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LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 



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LETTERS OF 



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LORD ACTON 



TO MARY GLADSTONE 



EDITED, WITH AN INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR, BY 



HERBERT PAUL 



WITH TWO PLATES 



Wefo fgotfe 
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

LONDON: GEORGE ALLEN 
1904 

All rights reserved 






ft' 



V 



LiBRAHY ,■> CONGRESS 

Two Copieb Received 

MAR 17 f904 

( Copyrix'u Entry 
CLASS A. XXc. No- 
COPY 8? 



Copyright, 1904, 
By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. 



Set up, electrotyped, and published March, 1904. 



Nortoooti Press 

J. S. Cushing & Co. — Berwick & Smith Co. 

Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. 



" Through such souls alone 
God stooping shows sufficient of His Light 
For us V the dark to rise by." 



THIS VOLUME 

IS DEDICATED TO 

LADY ACTON 

By M. D. 



PREFACE 

It does not seem likely that any one, after read- 
ing these letters, will question the desirability of 
their publication. In general they speak for them- 
selves; a few notes have been added to explain 
allusions which by lapse of time have become 
obscure; some names and passages, and some let- 
ters, have been omitted. After 1885 Lord Acton 
touched upon questions which are still matters of 
controversy, and therefore the selection closes with 
that year. The letters were written to the daughter 
who lived with Mr. Gladstone from the time of her 
own birth, in the middle of the last century, to the 
day of his death, at its close. The idea of publish- 
ing a selection of them arose in 1898; and Lord 
Acton, with certain reservations, assented to it. But 
it was felt by competent judges that it would be 
trespassing in Mr. Morley's domain ; and Mr. Mor- 
ley himself was strongly of opinion that the mutila- 
tion which at that period would have been necessary, 
would seriously impair the interest and the signifi- 
cance of the book. So, for the time, the project 
was abandoned. On the other hand, in the judg- 
ment of the eminent authorities to whom the letters 
were submitted, their value was of such a nature 
that it was evident they ought to be published as 

s 



6 PREFACE 

soon as Mr. Morley should have completed his 
task. 

With the exception of passages critical of himself 
or his policy, the letters were not read by Mr. Glad- 
stone ; for, while he made it a rule to shun all that 
was laudatory of himself, he always welcomed and 
carefully studied anything deliberately thought out 
or written in an opposite sense. His own cor- 
respondence with Lord Acton extended over a 
period of some thirty years ; but it does not cover 
nearly so wide a range of subjects, or appeal so 
much to general interests, as the series now printed. 

To the recipient of these letters from Lord Acton 
they will always be precious, not merely for the 
judgments they contain and the memories they 
recall, but also as the outward symbol of an in- 
ward and priceless possession — the treasure of his 
friendship. 

MARY DREW. 

loth January, 1904. 



EDITOR'S PREFACE 

In compiling the Introductory Memoir which fol- 
lows I have been chiefly indebted to Dr. Shaw's 
excellent " Bibliography of Lord Acton," edited for 
the Royal Historical Society, and to a most inter- 
esting article in the Edinburgh Review for April 
1903. I have also consulted Mr. Bryce's "Studies 
in Contemporary Biography," Sir Mountstuart Grant 
Duff's " Out of the Past," and an obituary notice in 
the Cambridge Review for October 1902, signed 
" F. W. M." Mr. Morley was good enough to lend 
me the copies of Lord Acton's letters to Mr. Glad- 
stone which had been made for the purposes of his 
Biography. Neither the materials 'at my command 
nor the circumstances of the case justified me in 
attempting to write a Life of Lord Acton. I have 
merely sought to furnish such information as the 
readers of these letters would naturally desire to 
possess. 

HERBERT PAUL. 



INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR 

Lord Acton was dimly known to the general 
public as a prodigy of learning. He left no great 
work behind him, and is often quoted as an example 
of natural gifts buried under an accumulation of 
excessive or ill-digested knowledge. The image 
of a Dryasdust, of a bookworm, of a walking Dic- 
tionary, was excited by his name among those to 
whom he was a name and nothing more. To those 
who had the privilege of his acquaintance he ap- 
peared almost the precise opposite of a picture too 
unlike the truth to be even a caricature. For Lord 
Acton was a thorough man of the world. An insa- 
tiable, systematic, and effective reader, he was any- 
thing but a recluse. No man had a keener zest for 
the society of his intellectual equals. No one took a 
stronger interest in the events of the day and the 
gossip of the hour. His learning, though vast and 
genuine, was never obtruded. Always ready to im- 
part information, he shrank from the semblance of 
volunteering it. Indeed, if no direct appeal were 
made to him, he would let people without a tithe 
of his knowledge lay down the law as if they knew 
everything, and would betray no other sign of amuse- 
ment than an enigmatical smile. He had something 
of Addison's tendency, exhibited in a much more 
remarkable and much less agreeable form by Mr. 

9 



io INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR 

Froude, to draw out rather than to repress the sal- 
lies of conceited ignorance. But for any one who 
wished to learn, his resources were in their fullest 
extent available. To be in his company was like 
being in the best of historical libraries with the best 
of historical catalogues. A question produced not 
only a direct and complete answer, but also useful 
advice, about the books which the inquirer ought 
to consult. On matters of opinion he was much 
more reticent. Sometimes, without a moment's 
warning, he would utter a paradox which from any 
one else might have seemed the mere reckless- 
ness of sciolism, but which, coming from him, was 
treasured in the memory. I remember, for instance, 
his telling me that Rousseau had produced more 
effect with his pen than Aristotle, or Cicero, or 
Saint Augustine, or Saint Thomas Aquinas, or 
any other man who ever lived. But such sweep- 
ing assertions were few. His general attitude was 
one of rigid adhesion to certain facts, and careful 
avoidance of hasty judgments. It was not that 
Lord Acton had no strong opinions. Few people 
had stronger opinions than he, and their foun- 
dation was so solid that it was almost impossible 
to displace them. But he liked to hear all sides 
of every question, and to make allowance for all 
errors which did not involve a violation of the moral 
law. Any apology, or even excuse, for departure 
from the highway of the Decalogue he regarded as 
in itself a crime. 

The force and originality of Lord Acton's con- 
versation are reflected, and may be inferred, from his 



INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR n 

epistolary style. In absolutely uncongenial com- 
pany he would maintain the silence of the tomb. 
But when there was any community of taste or 
subject, he shone equally as a talker and as a lis- 
tener. It was not that he tried to shine. He did 
not aim at epigram, and his humour was as sponta- 
neous as it was delightful. He loved to stimulate 
conversation in others, and no man had more sym- 
pathy with a good thing which he had not said him- 
self. His manner was such that his compliments 
sometimes suggested a faint suspicion of insincerity. 
The suspicion, however, was unjust, and was merely 
the result of a subtle, half-ironic manner. He was 
entirely free from jealousy, vanity, and egoism. A 
merciless intellectual critic he could hardly help 
being. He had so trained and furnished his mind 
that it rejected instinctively a sophism or a false 

pretence. 

Antonio Stradivari has an eye 

That winces at false work and loves the true. 

His intimate friends agreed that he was the 
raciest and most stimulating of companions, with 
an instinctive perception for the true significance 
of a hint, so that they never had to tell him a 
thing twice, or to explain it once. That letters 
take their tone from the recipient as well as from 
the writer is a commonplace, almost a platitude. 
While therefore only Lord Acton's half of this cor- 
respondence is printed, the nature of the other 
half may be surmised from what he says himself. 
Such letters as the criticism of " John Inglesant," or 
the view of Mr. Gladstone as he will appeal* to pos- 



12 INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR 

terity, or the estimate of Ultramontane ethics, stand 
out as solid documents with a permanent and 
independent value of their own. The more numer- 
ous specimens of his more familiar writing will read- 
ily suggest why he found this correspondence so 
congenial, and what was the reason in each case for 
his choice of topics. The pliability and adapta- 
bility of his mind, his easy transitions f ronv. grave to 
gay, his sympathy with all a friend's interests and 
feelings, are visible in every page. 

Lord Acton's personality was a negative of all 
shams. His spacious forehead, his deep sonorous 
voice, his piercing eyes, and his air of vigilant repose 
were the outward signs of genuine power, in which 
the latent force behind is greater than anything the 
surface displays. He might well have sat to Titian 
for one of those ecclesiastical statesmen whose min- 
gled strength and subtlety have attracted the admir- 
ing gaze of three hundred and fifty years. He was 
a good talker because he was a good listener, always 
interested in the subject, not seeking to exhaust it, 
rather putting in from time to time the exactly appro- 
priate word. To draw Lord Acton out, to make 
him declare himself upon some doubtful or delicate 
point, was a hopeless task. His face at once assumed 
the expression of the Sphinx. To students, on the 
other hand, his generosity was unbounded, and the 
accumulations of a lifetime were at the disposal of 
any one who was willing to profit by them. It will 
be seen from these letters that Lord Acton was not 
merely a learned man. His perceptions were quick 
and shrewd. His judgment was clear and sound. 



INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR 13 

He watched every move in the political game with 
a vigilant keenness quickened by the depth of his 
interest in the great leader whom he followed to the 
end. Circumstances had made him from his boy- 
hood familiar with the best political society not 
merely of England but of Europe. He was as 
much at home in Italy and in Germany as in his 
native land, so that he could compare Mr. Gladstone 
with foreign statesmen of his own time as well as 
with British statesmen of the past. Although it has 
been roughly estimated by his friend Mr. Bryce that 
Lord Acton read on an average an octavo volume 
a day, as often as not in German, he was never a 
bookworm. When he was in London he constantly 
dined out, and he corresponded freely with conti- 
nental friends. Few people were more agreeable in 
a country house. No one assumed more naturally 
the aspect of disengaged leisure, and it was possible 
to live in the same house with him for weeks with- 
out ever seeing him read. Even the frivolities 
of the world were not beneath his notice. He 
liked to know about marriages before they occurred. 
He was an excellent judge of cookery and of wine. 
Yet the passion of his life was reading. It was, 
as has been well said, like a physical appetite, and 
it seemed, if it changed at all, to grow stronger 
as he grew older. His reading was chiefly his- 
torical. He was no great classical scholar. The 
voluminous notes to his inaugural lecture at Cam- 
bridge do not contain a single quotation from any 
classical author of Greece or Rome. He cared little 
for poetry, for art, or for pure literature, the litera- 



i 4 INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR 

ture of style. Of physical science he knew only 
what most educated men know. But he was well 
versed in metaphysics, he was a deep theologian, 
and his knowledge of modern history was only 
bounded by the limits of the theme. 

John Emerick Edward Dalberg Acton was born 
at Naples on the ioth of January 1834, the only 
son of Sir Richard Acton, seventh baronet, and the 
heiress of the German house whose name, Dalberg, 
he bore. An Italian birthplace, a German mother, 
and an English father stamped him from the be- 
ginning as a citizen of the world. His grandfather, 
Sir John Francis Acton, had been Prime Minister 
of Naples under Ferdinand the Fourth, and had 
reorganised the Neapolitan navy. His maternal 
grandfather entered the service of France, and rep- 
resented Louis the Eighteenth at the Congress of 
Vienna. No wonder that Lord Acton spoke Ger- 
man and Italian as well as French, or that the chief 
foreign languages were as familiar to him as his 
own. In fact, as well as in blood, he was only half 
an Englishman. His entire freedom from insular 
prejudice, which was peculiarly noticeable in his 
opinions on Irish affairs, must be attributed not less 
to his religion than to his origin. He adhered 
throughout his life, notwithstanding many diffi- 
culties which would have shaken a less profound 
faith, to the Church of Rome. Nor was he one of 
those Catholics who remain Catholics because they 
do not care enough ab<\ut the matter to change. 
Liberal as he was, tolerant as he was, broad as he 
was, the central truths of the Christian religion and 



INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR 15 

of the Catholic Church were not merely articles of 
his creed, but guiding principles of his conduct. If 
these letters show anything, they show that in Lord 
Acton's mind, and in his estimate of human affairs, 
religion overmastered all mundane considerations. 
It was with him first, and last, and everywhere. 
Upon that noble text, "Where the spirit of the 
Lord is, there is liberty," his life and writings are a 
sermon. Hating Ultramontanism and Vaticanism 
as only a passionate believer in the Church which 
they disfigured could hate them, cherishing the 
right of private judgment within the widest limits 
which Rome had ever allowed, he died, as he was 
baptized, in the faith of his ancestors. Perhaps his 
allegiance was none the less staunch because it was 
ethical and rational ; because he clung always and 
before all things, in the clash of creeds, to " those 
things which are certain still, the grand, simple 
landmarks of morality." " If," said the greatest 
preacher in the Church of England sixty years ago, 
" if there be no God and no future state, yet even 
then it is better to be generous than selfish, better 
to be chaste than licentious, better to be true than 
false, better to be brave than to be a coward." 
Lord Acton would have been unable to conceive 
the protasis. The apodosis he would not have 
denied. 

Sir Richard Acton died while his son was a child, 
and at the age of nine Sir John was sent by his 
mother to the Roman Catholic College at Oscott, of 
which Dr. Wiseman was the head. Wiseman, until 
Mr. Wilfrid Ward published his excellent biography, 



16 INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR 

was chiefly known to English Protestants as the 
instrument of papal aggression, and the subject of 
Robert Browning's satirical poem, " Bishop Blou- 
gram's Apology." He was in truth an able and 
accomplished man, a really great organiser, thor- 
oughly well qualified to preside over an educa- 
tional establishment like Oscott. He was not in 
any sense of the word a Liberal, and in later years 
the pupil did not always agree with the master. 
But of Oscott Lord Acton always spoke with affec- 
tion, and the five years which he spent there in the 
pursuit of knowledge were among the happiest in 
a happy existence. It was the young man's own 
desire to enter the University of Cambridge. For 
he did not, like some Catholics, hold it sinful to 
receive education from a Protestant source. The 
law would not even then have prevented him from 
matriculating at Cambridge, as it would at Oxford, 
and yet the colleges, more bigoted than the law, 
refused, on what they doubtless considered religious 
grounds, to receive a student as hungry for learning 
as ever sought admission within their venerable 
precincts. Sir John Acton, so peculiarly fitted by 
nature and education to adorn and illustrate a 
University, may well have asked with Macaulay, 
what was the faith of Edward the Third, and Henry 
the Sixth, of Margaret of Anjou, and Margaret of 
Richmond, from whose foundations the head of a 
Catholic family was turned away. If Acton had 
gone to Cambridge, he would have known more 
about Herodotus and Thucydides, Caesar and Taci- 
tus. Of history in its more modern sense, and its 



INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR 17 

more specially ecclesiastical aspects, he would prob- 
ably have learnt less. Instead of keeping his 
terms under the walls of the Fitzwilliam, he went to 
Munich, and studied with the illustrious Dollinger. 
Dollinger was distinguished for learning even 
among German professors, and though, unlike his 
pupil, eminent in classical scholarship, as well as in 
theology, was before all things an historian. He it 
was who taught Acton to look at everything from 
the historical point of view, and to remember that, 
in the immortal words of Coleridge, " The man who 
puts even Christianity before truth will go on to put 
the Church before Christianity, and will end by 
putting himself before the Church." The time 
came both to Dollinger and to Acton, when the 
voice of the Church said one thing, and the voice of 
truth another. They did not hesitate. But the 
results to the priest were different from the results 
to the layman. 

At Munich, meanwhile, Sir John Acton laboured 
prodigiously. Latin and Greek he never mastered 
as he would have mastered them under Munro and 
Kennedy. But he learned them well enough for 
the purposes of an historian, with more help than 
Gibbon had, though not with the same innate 
genius. Of French, German, Italian, and Spanish, 
he became a master. At any subsequent period he 
would just as soon have written or spoken in French 
or German as in English. About this time he 
began to collect the splendid library which he 
formed in his country house at Aldenham in Shrop- 
shire. It consisted, when complete, of sixty thou- 



18 INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR 

sand volumes, many of them covered with his 
marginal notes. Unlike most libraries, this one had 
a definite object, and reason for existence. Lord 
Acton was from the schoolroom to the grave an 
ardent, convinced, and enthusiastic Liberal. It was 
his aim to write a History of Liberty. The book 
was never written. Not indolence but a procrasti- 
nation, which resulted from cherishing an impos- 
sibly high ideal, prevented it from coming to the 
light. One of his reasons for not beginning the 
History of Liberty was that the whole truth about 
the French Revolution had not yet been discovered. 
But the library was collected to illustrate the His- 
tory, and thus the books, now at Cambridge, have 
a peculiar interest, or rather a peculiar character of 
their own. When they were at Aldenham, Lord 
Acton knew the precise position which each vol- 
ume occupied in its case and shelf. It is related 
that on one of his visits to his beloved room, 
while the house was let, the servants found him 
reading when they came in the morning to open 
the shutters. He had forgotten to go to bed. Mr. 
Bryce (" Studies in Contemporary Biography," pp. 
396-97) has described in a peculiarly vivid and im- 
pressive manner how Acton was dominated and 
haunted by the idea that he never fulfilled. Late 
one night, in his library at Cannes, while Mr. Bryce 
was staying with him, it found vent in speech. 
" He spoke for six or seven minutes only ; but he 
spoke like a man inspired ; seeming as if, from some 
mountain summit high in air, he saw beneath him 
the far-winding path of human progress from dim 



INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR 19 

Cimmerian shores of prehistoric shadow into the 
fuller yet broken and fitful light of the modern time. 
The eloquence was splendid, yet greater than the 
eloquence was the penetrating vision which dis- 
cerned through all events and in all ages the play 
of those moral forces, now creating, now destroying, 
always transmuting, which had moulded and re- 
modelled institutions, and had given to the human 
spirit its ceaselessly changing forms of energy. It 
was as if the whole landscape of history had been 
suddenly lit up by a burst of sunlight. I have never 
heard from any other lips any discourse like this, 
nor from his did I ever hear the like again." 

With Professor Dollinger Sir John Acton visited 
France, and made many distinguished friends, in- 
cluding the foremost among French Liberal Catho- 
lics, Montalembert ; Alexis de Tocqueville, the 
famous author of " Democracy in America," whose 
memoirs record the blunders of the Second Repub- 
lic in France with a concentrated irony not unworthy 
of Tacitus; and Fustel de Coulanges, whose Cite 
Antique was as well known thirty years ago in Ox- 
ford as in Paris. His German friends were innu- 
merable. Bluntschli, the great jurist, and von Sybel, 
the historian of the French Revolution, were among 
them. Of the illustrious Ranke he proclaimed him- 
self a disciple, and it is intensely characteristic of 
him that his favourite among the moral philosophers 
of his own day was a Protestant, Rothe. Rothe's 
Ethik, he said, was the book which he would give 
to any one whom he wished to turn out a good 
Catholic. But as Lord Acton would not have crossed 



20 INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR 

the room to make ten proselytes, the value of this 
selection may easily be exaggerated. To Protestant 
theology he paid as much attention as to Catholic. 
Those who feared God and followed Christ in every 
nation belonged to his household of faith. 

Lord Acton deserved as well as Cobden, though 
for quite other reasons, to be called an interna- 
tional man. Not a great traveller, as travelling 
is understood in these days of universal locomotion, 
he was familiar with the chief capitals of Europe, 
and, so soon as his formal education was completed, 
he paid a visit to the United States. He was then, 
and always remained, an ardent admirer of the 
American Constitution, and of the illustrious men 
who made it. Its temporary breakdown in 1861 was 
scarcely then in sight. Slave States and Free States 
were flourishing side by side, and the vital question 
whether a State had the right to secede from the 
Union, which could only be determined by civil war, 
still slumbered in abeyance. Acton held strongly 
Calhoun's doctrine of Sovereign States, and that 
is why he " broke his heart over the surrender of 
Lee." If the point had been decided by the letter 
of the Constitution, so that the Supreme Court 
could have given an authoritative decision upon 
it as upon the right of recapturing fugitive slaves, 
many thousands of lives might have been spared. 
When Sir John Acton went to Washington, the 
Abolitionists, though busy, were a small minority; 
they carried their lives in their hands, and the 
Republicans were no better prepared than the 
Democrats to adopt abolition as a principle. The 



INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR 21 

Constitution did not expressly forbid slavery. 
Neither, as was often urged, did the New Testa- 
ment. But the one said that all men were born 
equal, without specifying white men ; and St. Paul 
declared that, within the pale of Christendom, there 
was neither Jew nor Greek, neither barbarian nor 
Scythian, neither bond nor free. 

At the age of twenty-two Sir John Acton found 
himself in a country whose institutions differed as 
widely as possible from those of the United States. 
His mother had married Lord Granville, and he 
accompanied his step-father to Moscow when Alex- 
ander the Second was crowned there in 1856. Lord 
Granville's reception was not a pleasant one, and 
even so accomplished a master of tact was driven to 
remonstrate against the coldness of his treatment, 
which was made more remarkable, though not more 
agreeable, by the flattering attentions paid to the 
French representative, M. de Morny. The Crimean 
War was hardly over, the ink on the Treaty of Paris 
was scarcely dry, and already Russia was on better 
terms with France than with England, while Eng- 
land was on worse terms with France than with 
Russia. The Emperor Napoleon had taken no pains 
to secure the fulfilment of the Treaty, whereas Lord 
Palmerston could not have displayed more zeal on 
behalf of Turkey if he had been the Sultan's Min- 
ister instead of the Queen's. The singularity of the 
situation could not fail to strike such a mind as Sir 
John Acton's. For the result of a war in which 
England had sacrificed twenty thousand men and 
seventy-six millions sterling to maintain what were 



22 INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR 

called in a licentious phrase the liberties of Europe 
was that she had not a friend on the European 
Continent, except Turkey. The distinguished com- 
pany with whom Sir John Acton associated at 
Moscow were astonished "by the vastness of his 
knowledge and his mode of exposition " (Edinburgh 
Review, No. 404, p. 502). Between Sir John and 
his step-father there could not be much real sym- 
pathy of taste or disposition. Lord Granville, as 
Matthew Arnold says, had studied in the book of the 
world rather than in the world of books. Nature 
seemed to have destined him to lead the Liberal 
party in the House of Lords. A thorough and gen- 
uine Liberal he always was. He belonged to the 
Manchester school, the school of Cobden and Bright. 
At the same time his finished manners, his imper- 
turbable temper, and his ready wit, were just the 
right equipment for the chief of an aristocratic 
minority. He knew little, and cared less, about the 
serious study of historical ethics, and historical poli- 
tics, which was the essential business of Acton's life. 
When he was twenty-five, Sir John Acton came 
to live at Aldenham, his country house in Shropshire, 
where there was ample room for many thousands of 
books. At the General Election held in the sum- 
mer of 1859 he was returned to Parliament. Al- 
though Catholic Emancipation was thirty years old, 
its effects were almost exclusively confined to Ireland. 
It was hardly possible for a Roman Catholic to find 
a seat in England, and Sir John Acton sat for the 
small Irish burgh of Carlow, disfranchised in 1885. 
He was counted as a Whig, and a supporter of Lord 



INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR 23 

Palmerston. But there was no sympathy, no point 
of contact, between the jaunty Premier and the 
erudite, philosophical, reflective Member for Carlow. 
" No one agrees with me and I agree with no one," 
said Sir John, with unusual tautology. It was not 
quite true. During those almost silent years of 
Parliamentary life he watched with critical and yet 
admiring interest the career of the illustrious man 
who was destined to be Palmerston's successor. 
Although Mr. Gladstone had not time to acquire 
the learning of his disciple, and upon the negative 
results of German scholarship was inclined to look 
askance, he was the best theologian, as well as the 
best financier, in Parliament, and few men were so 
well qualified to appreciate the range or the depth 
of Acton's researches. Acton, on his part, was fas- 
cinated by the combination of intellectual subtlety 
with practical capacity which made the Chancellor 
of the Exchequer the first man in the House of 
Commons. It was Palmerston's House, not Glad- 
stone's, and the Derbyites were almost as numerous 
as the Palmerstonians. There was then no Glad- 
stonian party at all. The Peelites were disbanded. 
Some had fallen back into the Conservative ranks. 
Some, like Sidney Herbert, who died in 1861, Card- 
well, and Gladstone himself, sat in the Cabinet of 
Lord Palmerston. Others had fallen out of public 
life altogether. Mr. Gladstone was still to the gen- 
eral public somewhat of an enigma. So lately as 
May 1858 he had been earnestly entreated both by 
Lord Derby and by Mr. Disraeli to accept the Board 
of Control on the resignation of Lord Ellenborough. 



24 INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR 

He had voted for the Conservative Reform Bill of 
1859, and against Lord Hartington's motion which 
turned Lord Derby out. When he accepted office 
in a Liberal Administration, his Tory constituents 
at Oxford were so much surprised and annoyed that 
they did their best to deprive him of his seat, and 
almost succeeded. The Whigs regarded him as a 
Tory and a Puseyite. The Tories bore a grudge 
against him because he had imposed a succession 
duty on landed estates. The Radicals considered 
him a lukewarm reformer, and in short hardly any 
one except his personal friends knew what to make 
of him. Then came the opportunity, and with it 
was displayed the full grandeur of the man. The 
Parliament of 1859 passed no successful or memor- 
able legislation which was not connected with 
finance. Mr. Gladstone's Budgets were the great 
events of the Sessions from i860 to 1865, and noth- 
ing at all like them has been known since. Almost 
every year taxes were repealed, expenditure was 
diminished, revenue was increased. After an obsti- 
nate conflict with the House of Lords the paper duty 
disappeared, and with it the power of the Lords to 
interfere with the taxation of the people. The duties 
on tea and sugar were so reduced as to bring those 
commodities within the reach of the working classes. 
The income-tax fell from ninepence to fourpence. 
The Commercial Treaty with France preserved the 
peace of Europe, and by the trade which it created 
between the two sides of the English Channel more 
than made up for the losses inflicted upon British 
commerce by the American War. The speeches in 



INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR 25 

which Mr. Gladstone's Budgets were expounded, 
especially those of i860 and 1861, are superb speci- 
mens of the eloquence which increases, while it 
dignifies, the force of reason. His speech on the 
taxation of charities in 1863, though it failed to con- 
vince the House that charitable endowments should 
be taxed, was pronounced by a French critic to com- 
bine the grandeur of Berryer with the subtlety of 
Thiers. Acton was no financier. Neither his tastes 
nor his training qualified him to be a critic of Bud- 
gets, and when he became, as will presently appear, 
a political editor, he left that business to Mr. Lowe, 
claiming, with some apparent justification, that he 
thus made him Chancellor of the Exchequer. But 
he loved historical processes quite as much as his- 
torical results, and the hours which he spent in the 
House of Commons while the future leader of the 
Liberal party proved himself to be the economic 
successor of Walpole, Pitt, and Peel, fixed his politi- 
cal allegiance for the remainder of his life. 

All the time that Mr. Gladstone was dazzling the 
country by the brilliance of his finance, and convinc- 
ing practical men by the hard test of figures at the 
year's end, he had to fight his colleagues in the 
Cabinet as well as his opponents at St. Stephen's. 
Lord John Russell nearly ruined the Budget of 
i860 by the persistency with which he pressed his 
unlucky Reform Bill. Lord Palmerston was con- 
tinually demanding money for safeguards against a 
French invasion in which the Chancellor of the 
Exchequer would not believe. Cobden, from the 
outside, was urging the one genuine economist in 



26 INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR 

the Cabinet to promote the cause of economy by 
resigning. Acton, though dissatisfied with "bald 
Cobdenites," as he termed them, was always on 
Gladstone's and never on Palmerston's side. On 
the other hand there was a question of European 
importance which united Mr. Gladstone hand and 
glove with the Prime Minister and the Foreign 
Secretary. Italian unity, and Italian indepen- 
dence, were as dear to Palmerston and Russell 
as to Gladstone. Lord John's famous despatch of 
October 1861, vindicating the right of the Ital- 
ians to choose their own rulers, was greeted with 
enthusiastic delight throughout the Italian penin- 
sula. The cause for which Cavour lived, only to die 
in the moment of its triumph, was nowhere pleaded 
with more persuasive power than by Mr. Gladstone 
in the Parliament of 1859. Although Lord Palm- 
erston's Government could never reckon upon a 
majority of fifteen, the opposition to their Italian 
policy came chiefly from a few Irish Catholics. Sir 
John Acton, though a Roman Catholic, and an Irish 
Member, took no part in it. He was deeply imbued 
with the spirit of liberty, and he held with all the 
strength of his mind that the cause of religion was 
the cause of freedom. To maintain Austria in 
Italy, or even the temporal power of the Pope, did 
not belong to Catholicism as he understood it. To 
identify soundness of faith with arbitrary rule was, 
in the eyes of a Liberal Catholic like Acton, one of 
those blunders which are worse than crimes. He 
was drawn to Mr. Gladstone both by admiration of 
his splendid capacity and by agreement with his 



INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR 27 

continental Liberalism. In the House of Commons 
he hardly ever spoke. For six years he only put 
two questions, and made one speech. (May 4, i860.) 
The questions were unimportant. The speech was 
characteristic. It was in effect an appeal for infor- 
mation about the government of the Papal States. 
No Catholic, said Sir John Acton, would defend bad 
government because it was exercised in the name of 
the Pope. In this case the evidence was contradic- 
tory, and all he wanted was the truth. Lord John 
Russell was unable to give a satisfactory reply, 
because the Queen had no accredited representative 
at Rome. Macaulay's description of the Papal 
States a few years before this time is well known. 
If, he said, you met a man who was neither a priest 
nor a soldier, and who did not beg, you might be 
pretty sure that he was a foreigner. Sir John 
Acton, though he deprecated hasty judgments, was 
incapable of defending oppression or injustice. The 
fact that it was the work of Catholics, so far from 
prejudicing him in its favour, would simply have in- 
creased the severity of his condemnation. It would, 
in his eyes, have been falling from a higher standard. 
The two political questions to which Sir John 
Acton attached most importance were ecclesiastical 
establishments and agrarian reform. The land laws 
were safe from disturbance under a Premier who 
flippantly remarked that tenant right was landlord 
wrong. The Irish Church, to which, as a Catholic 
and an Irish Member, Acton could not be indiffer- 
ent, suddenly flashed into fatal prominence, when, 
on the 28th of March 1865, Mr. Gladstone declared 



28 INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR 

that it did not fulfil its proper functions, because it 
ministered only to one-eighth, or one-ninth, of the 
community. This speech, coupled with his declara- 
tion of the previous year that every man not men- 
tally or morally disqualified was on the face of it 
entitled to come within the pale of the Constitution, 
gave Mr. Gladstone for the first time the confidence 
of the working classes and of the Radical party. 
Sir John Acton went with him, then and afterwards, 
in all confidence and hope. As a Catholic he would 
naturally have been opposed to the maintenance of 
Protestant ascendency by law. As a Liberal he 
was in favour of extending the suffrage, and of reli- 
gious equality. But indeed the foundation of his 
agreement with Mr. Gladstone lay deeper than any 
political principle or measure. Belonging to two 
different branches of the Christian Church, they 
both desired the reunion of Christendom, and both 
held that religion was the guiding star in public as 
in private life. Between a High Churchman like 
Mr. Gladstone and a Liberal Catholic like Sir John 
Acton there was plenty of common ground. Both 
men became, in every sense of the word, more Lib- 
eral as they grew older, and Acton's belief in his 
Leader ripened into a reverential devotion which 
nothing could shake. 

At the General Election of 1865, Sir John Acton 
stood in the Whig or Liberal interest for Bridg- 
north, the nearest town to Aldenham, and then a 
Parliamentary borough. " On that occasion he 
assured the electors that he represented not the 
body but the spirit of the Church of Rome " (Edin- 



INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR 29 

burgh Review, No. 404, pp. 375-76). What the 
electors made of this assurance we do not know, 
and it would be vain to conjecture. They placed 
him, however, at the head of the poll. But his 
majority was a single vote, which disappeared on a 
scrutiny, and he never again took his seat on the 
green benches of the House of Commons. He had 
none of the gifts required for winning large popular 
constituencies, even if his creed had not been a fatal 
objection in the mind of the average voter flve-and- 
thirty years ago. 

While Sir John Acton sat in the House and 
silently voted with his party, he had not been inactive. 
The views of the most cultivated and enlightened 
among English Catholics were expressed in the 
fifties by a monthly periodical called the Rambler. 
The editor of the Rambler was the greatest of con- 
verts, John Henry Newman. In 1859 an article of 
Newman's on consulting the laity in matters of 
doctrine was condemned by authority at Rome, and 
Newman withdrew from the editorial chair. He 
was succeeded by Sir John Acton, and no better 
choice could have been made. He edited the 
Rambler till 1862, when it became merged in the 
Home and Foreign Review. His first contribution, in 
November 1859, was a criticism of Mill on Liberty, 
which he took up again in the following March. 
The subject was peculiarly his own, though he 
could not, as a Catholic, approach it from Mill's 
point of view. He wrote, contrary to his custom, 
in the first person singular, and signed the arti- 
cle "A"; which, in his own review amounted to 



30 INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR 

acknowledgment. " By liberty," wrote this Liberal 
Catholic, " I mean absence of accountability to any 
temporal authority," and he added, " I make no 
reservations." He afterwards learned that liberty 
was positive, and that spiritual as well as temporal 
authority might be pushed to a point inconsistent 
with freedom. These youthful contributions to 
his favourite theme show rather the wonderful 
knowledge which he had acquired at five-and- 
twenty than the delicate and subtle discrimination 
which distinguishes his later work. One exquisite 
quotation deserves to be quoted again. Cui Chris- 
tus vim in tulit? wrote Count Boniface to St. 
Augustine. Quern coegit? To whom did Christ 
apply violence ? Whom did he coerce ? The final 
failure of persecution was in Sir John Acton's 
opinion the act of Louis the Fourteenth when he 
revoked the Edict of Nantes. "Coercion," he 
added, "is an educational instrument which West- 
ern Europe has outgrown," though indeed it had 
not much success in the age of the Caesars. On 
the Inquisition he was discreetly silent. But he 
concluded with a plea for the sacredness of moral 
responsibility, which hardly came within the scope 
of Mill's eloquent and powerful treatise. For a 
Catholic organ, however, the treatment of Mill 
is, if not sympathetic, at least appreciative and 
respectful. Of this article Mr. Gladstone wrote 
to the author, " I have read your valuable and 
remarkable paper. Its principles and politics I 
embrace; its research and wealth of knowledge 
I admire; and its whole atmosphere, if I may so 



INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR 31 

speak, is that which I desire to breathe. It is a 
truly English paper." 

Among Sir John Acton's other contributions to 
the Rambler, one of the most interesting is his 
account of Cavour, which appeared in July 1861, 
just after the Italian statesman's death. Acton had 
an abhorrence of Carlylean hero-worship, and he did 
less than justice to Cavour's regeneration of Italy. 
His criticism of a man who for many years of his 
too brief life was engrossed in a desperate struggle 
for national independence is cold and dry. He can- 
not conceal either the scanty resources which Cavour 
had at his disposal, or the magnitude of the results 
which those resources were made to achieve. But, 
true to his favourite subject, he analysed the Minis- 
ter's conception of liberty, and found it wanting. 
It was liberty for the State, not liberty for the indi- 
vidual, nor for the Church. Yet Cavour's cherished 
ideal was " a free Church in a free State," and he 
would probably have replied that from the purely 
individual point of view Piedmont might well chal- 
lenge comparison with the Austrian provinces of 
Italy or the States of the Church. If Cavour's life 
had been spared, we may be sure that he would, as 
his dying words about Naples imply, have governed 
in accordance with the principles of constitutional 
freedom. A year later, in July 1862, Acton inau- 
gurated the Home and Foreign Review with a char- 
acteristic article on " Nationality." He traced the 
rise of national sentiment in Europe to the infamous 
partition of Poland, of which Burke said that no 
wise or honest man could approve. It was fostered 



32 INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR 

by the French Revolution, and became afterwards 
the instrument by which Napoleon fell. The Holy 
Alliance suppressed it for a time, but it soon revived 
in Italy. By Nationalism, which Englishmen forty 
years ago favoured everywhere except in Ireland, 
Acton meant, as he explains, "the complete and 
consistent theory that the State and the nation 
must be coextensive." " Exile is the nursery of 
nationality," he proceeds, "as oppression is the 
school of liberalism; and Mazzini conceived the 
idea of Young Italy when he was a refugee at Mar- 
seilles." To the idea of Nationalism, as he defines 
it, Acton opposed the principle that "the combina- 
tion of different nations in one State is as necessary 
a condition of civilised life as the combination of 
men in society." To overcome national differences 
was the mission of the Church, and patriotism was 
in political life what faith was in religion. There 
could be no nationality with any claim upon men's 
allegiance except what was formed by the State. 
" The Swiss are ethnologically either French, 
Italian, or German; but no nationality has the 
slightest claim upon them, except the purely politi- 
cal nationality of Switzerland." The instance was 
well chosen. Unfortunately Acton goes on to say 
that " the citizens of Florence and of Naples have 
no political community with each other," which had 
ceased to be true before the article appeared. Nor 
was it altogether a fortunate prediction that no or- 
ganised State could be formed in Mexico, which 
after the departure of the French became a stable 
Republic. Paradoxical as the essay in some re- 



INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR 33 

spects was, it is valuable as an analysis of political 
ideas, and its concluding sentence is full of sugges- 
tion even to minds which do not accept the opinions 
implied. " Although," so it runs, " the theory of 
nationality is more absurd and more criminal than 
the theory of Socialism, it has an important mission 
in the world, and marks the final conflict, and 
therefore the end, of two forces which are the worst 
enemies of civil freedom — the absolute monarchy 
and the revolution." 

There is nothing in Sir John Acton's essay on 
" Nationality " which would be likely to excite sus- 
picion at the Court of Rome. But the Home and 
Foreign Review was known to be a Liberal as well 
as a Catholic organ. It was marked by indepen- 
dence of tone, as well as by originality of thought, 
and it soon fell under suspicion. Even its motto, 
Seu vetus est verum diligo sive novum,, " I love the 
truth, whether it be old or new," was ambiguous. 
For how can Catholic truth be new ? In the month 
of August 1862, Cardinal Wiseman, the acknowl- 
edged head of the Roman Catholic Church in 
England, received an address from his clergy. His 
reply contained a severe censure of the Home and 
Foreign Review for the " absence of all reserve or 
reverence in its treatment of persons or of things 
deemed sacred, its grazing even the very edges of 
the most perilous abysses of error, and its habitual 
preference of uncatholic to Catholic instincts, ten- 
dencies, and motives." The particular charge of 
personal misrepresentation against which the Cardi- 
nal protested has long since lost whatever interest it 



34 INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR 

may once have had. The general tone of Acton's 
remonstrance, made in his editorial character and 
in the periodical condemned, illustrates his attitude 
towards the Church to which he belonged. Of 
Wiseman he writes not merely with the reverence 
due to his ecclesiastical rank, but with the affection 
of an old pupil at Oscott. " In the Cardinal's sup- 
port and approbation of our work," he says, "we 
should recognise an aid more valuable to the cause 
we are engaged in than the utmost support which 
could be afforded to us by any other person." He 
then proceeds to describe the foundation of the 
Review. " That foundation is a humble faith in the 
infallible teaching of the Catholic Church, a devotion 
to her cause which controls every other interest, and 
an attachment to her authority which no other in- 
fluence can supplant. If in anything published by 
us a passage can be found which is contrary to that 
doctrine, incompatible with that devotion, or dis- 
respectful to that authority, we sincerely retract and 
lament it. No such passage was ever consciously 
admitted into the pages either of the late Rambler 
or of the Review? The aim of literature and the 
function of the journalist are declared to be on a 
lower level than the work and duty of the Church, 
though directed to the same ends as hers. " The 
political and intellectual orders remain permanently 
distinct from the spiritual. They follow their own 
ends, they obey their own laws, and in doing so they 
support the cause of religion by the discovery of 
truth and the upholding of right." These manly 
and sensible words are followed by a still more elo- 



INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR 35 

quent and significant passage, which expresses the 
deepest convictions of Acton's mind. " A political 
law or a scientific truth may be perilous to the 
morals or the faith of individuals ; but it cannot on 
this ground be resisted by the Church. ... A dis- 
covery may be made in science which will shake the 
faith of thousands ; yet religion cannot regret it or 
object to it. The difference in this respect between 
a true and a false religion is, that one judges all 
things by the standard of their truth, the other by 
the touchstone of its own interests. A false religion 
fears the progress of all truth ; a true religion seeks 
and recognises truth wherever it can be found." 

When Acton wrote- thus, the Darwinian contro- 
versy was at its height, and many Protestants, who 
thought that they believed in the right of private 
judgment, showed much less tolerance than he. 
Against the timid faith which feared the light, 
against the false morality which would do evil that 
good might come, Acton waged incessant war. 
Truth, morality, and justice could not in his eyes 
be inconsistent with the doctrines of the Church. 
If they appeared to be so, it must be because the 
doctrines were erroneously expressed or imperfectly 
understood. To identify the Church with a cause, 
with a party, with anything lower than morality and 
religion, was a betrayal of duty and a surrender of 
the fortress. The policy of the Home and Foreign 
Review, as expounded by the editor, was to leave 
the domains of faith and ecclesiastical government 
alone, but on all other matters to seek the highest 
attainable certainty. The progress of political right 



36 INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR 

and scientific knowledge, the development of free- 
dom in the state and of truth in literature, were its 
objects. Here for the time the quarrel rested. It is 
not to be supposed that Pius the Ninth and his 
advisers were satisfied with this lucid and pungent 
exposition of Liberal principles. But Wiseman 
had learned from experience that the interests of 
Catholicism in England were not promoted by a 
policy of aggression, and he was aware that Sir 
John Acton spoke for most of those Catholics who 
did not belong to the extreme or Ultramontane 
school. For nearly two years Sir John remained 
editor of the Home and Foreign Review. Then the 
final thunderbolt was launched by a higher power 
than Wiseman. At the Congress of Munich in 
1863 Acton's friend and teacher, Professor D61- 
linger, delivered an eloquent plea for the union of 
Christendom, lamenting the want of dogmatic stand- 
ards among Protestants, and at the same time urg- 
ing Catholics " to replace the mediaeval analytical 
method by the principle of historical development, 
and to encounter scientific error with scientific 
weapons " {Edinburgh Review, No. 404, p. 5 1 3). 
Sir John Acton attended this congress, and reported 
its proceedings to his Review. In March 1864 the 
Pope addressed a brief to the Archbishop of Munich, 
in which he declared that the opinions of Catholic 
writers were subject to the authority of the Roman 
congregations. After this Acton felt that it was 
useless to continue the struggle, or to carry on the 
Home and Foreign Review. In a farewell article, 
entitled "Conflicts with Rome," he explained that 



INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR 37 

he was equally unable to admit the doctrines of the 
brief or to dispute the authority which proclaimed 
them. In these circumstances he had only one 
course to take. He could not abandon principles 
he sincerely held. He could not reject the judg- 
ment of the Holy See without committing the sin 
of apostasy. " The principles had not ceased to be 
true, nor the authority to be legitimate, because the 
two were in contradiction." He could only sacrifice 
the Home and Foreign Review. He regretted its 
discontinuance, because, while there were plenty of 
magazines to represent science apart from religion, 
and religion apart from science, it had been his 
special object to exhibit the two in union. But he 
had no alternative, if he were to preserve his intel- 
lectual honesty and also his loyalty to the Church. 
It would have been difficult to emerge with more 
credit from a peculiarly painful and delicate posi- 
tion. The article, and with it the last number of 
the Review, appeared in April 1864, when Sir John 
Acton was thirty years of age. The surpassing 
prudence which accompanied him from boyhood 
through life had no connection with weakness nor 
timidity. It resulted from a very rare faculty of 
apprehending all aspects of a question at once, and 
of keeping them separate in his mind. In this 
same year 1864 Acton told one of his parliamentary 
friends, now Sir Mountstuart Grant Duff, that he 
had never felt the slightest doubt about any dogma 
of the Catholic, meaning the Roman Catholic, 
Church. A time was to come when his faith would 
be more severely tried. But, independent as he had 



38 INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR 

always been, Acton was not formed by nature to be 
a leader of revolts. Moral or intellectual anarchy 
was the last thing he desired. If he had been 
brought up a Protestant, he would probably have 
remained one. In that case, however, he would 
have seen the danger of private interpretation even 
more clearly than the perils of dogmatic despotism. 
He would have asked, if, as Bishop Butler says, 
we must judge of revelation itself by reason, whose 
reason it was to be. 

At the close of the year 1864, the tenth anni- 
versary of the date on which he had himself pro- 
claimed the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin 
as a dogma, the Pope issued his Encyclical Letter 
against modern thought. In the Syllabus of Errors 
which this epistle condemned, Pius the Ninth, who 
had once been reckoned a Liberal, included the her- 
esy that the Holy See ought to seek reconciliation 
with progress, with Liberalism, and with modern 
thought. He further pronounced that the Catholic 
religion should be the exclusive religion of the State ; 
and that liberty of worship, and freedom of the Press, 
promoted moral corruption and religious indiffer- 
ence. There was, he added, no hope for the eternal 
salvation of those who did not belong to the true 
Church. Although Sir John Acton had had some 
share in provoking the publication of the Syllabus, 
he made no reply. He had withdrawn from the con- 
troversy without surrendering either his faith as a 
Catholic or his principles as a man. 

In 1865 Acton's connection with the House of 
Commons ceased, and in the same year he married 



INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR 39 

a Bavarian lady, the eldest daughter of Count Arco- 
Valley. From this time too he abandoned the 
practice of regular editing and reviewing, nor did 
he write again for avowedly Catholic organs, though 
he was throughout the remainder of his life an occa- 
sional contributor to secular organs on historical 
and theological subjects. The popular idea that he 
wrote little, and passed his whole time in reading 
or talking, is erroneous. That he did not put out 
much in his own name is true. But the list of his 
anonymous articles fills more than twenty pages of 
an octavo volume, and their variety is quite as re- 
markable as their number. He read every new Ger- 
man book of the smallest importance. In the Home 
and Foreign Review alone there are more than 
seventy critical notices from his pen. The pen, 
however, was not the only instrument by which he 
imparted to others some fragments from his vast 
stores of knowledge. To his neighbours, one can 
hardly call them his constituents, in the little town 
of Bridgnorth, he delivered several lectures, now 
out of print and scarce, which for range and quality 
must have been very different from anything his 
audience had heard before. The first, delivered on 
the 1 8th of January 1866, when he was still sup- 
posed to be Member for the borough, is now only 
to be found in the Bridgnorth Journal 'for the 20th. 
Its subject is " The Civil War in America : Its 
Place in History." Nothing can be more character- 
istic than the tone and temper of this discourse. 
Though dated only a few months after the fall of 
Richmond, when, as Acton says in one of these 



40 INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR 

letters, he " broke his heart over the surrender of 
Lee," it is as calm and judicial, not to say as dry, 
as if he were investigating an antiquarian problem. 
Its dryness never becomes dulness. Unless, how- 
ever, the Literary and Scientific Institution of Bridg- 
north was far above the ordinary level of such 
bodies, they must have been puzzled and perplexed 
by the paradoxical subtlety which traced the causes 
of the war back to the birth of the American Con- 
stitution. " Slavery," he said, " was not the cause of 
secession, but the reason of its failure." Then what 
was the cause of secession ? According to Sir John 
Acton, it was the failure of Jefferson, Hamilton, and 
their colleagues to provide against the omnipotence 
of the majority, which he regarded as inconsistent 
with true freedom. They might have answered, if 
they could have been heard, that they had made the 
method of choosing a President indirect, and had 
given the Supreme Court control even over Congress 
itself. The first expedient had, no doubt, entirely 
failed, and the electoral college was a mere machine 
for registering the popular vote. But the Supreme 
Court was a substantial reality, and it had before 
the war decided that a fugitive slave could be re- 
claimed by his master even in a free State. Nobody 
will now dispute Sir John Acton's proposition that 
by the middle of the nineteenth century slavery was 
an anachronism. Yet, if the Southern States had 
been more instead of less numerous than the North- 
ern, they would have probably won, and they would 
then undoubtedly have set up a great Slave Power 
in the heart of western civilisation. The immediate, 



INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR 41 

or proximate, cause of hostilities was not slavery, but 
the claim of South Carolina to secede from the 
Union. Not till the third year of the war did Lin- 
coln proclaim the abolition of slavery. Yet without 
slavery there would have been no war. If not the 
causa causans, it was the causa sine qua non. The 
value of Sir John Acton's lecture lies chiefly in 
the ability with which he dissects the American 
Constitution, and indicates, sometimes in the words 
of its authors, its weak points. Whatever may be 
thought of his constructive faculty, his critical acu- 
men was not surpassed by any of his less learned 
contemporaries. 

In 1867, and the early part of 1868, Sir John 
Acton wrote regularly for the Chronicle, a weekly 
paper of high repute during its brief existence, con- 
tributing a narrative of current events in Italy 
during the period of Mentana and the second French 
occupation of Rome. On the 10th of March 1868 
he lectured again at Bridgnorth on the Rise and 
Fall of the Mexican Empire. 1 This is in my opin- 
ion the best popular lecture that Acton ever gave, 
and I do not know where I could lay my hands on 
a better. It is clear, spirited, eloquent, and so per- 
fectly well arranged that the whole story of Louis 
Napoleon's Mexican Expedition, with its plausible 
pretext, and its miserable failure, was told, not 
meagrely but completely, in the compass of an hour. 
The joint intervention of England, France, and 

1 1 owe the opportunity of reading and quoting from this lecture, 
reported in the Bridgnorth Journal of the 14th, to the kindness of Sir 
Mountstuart Grant Duff. 



42 INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR 

Spain in the affairs of Mexico did not last long. 
Its object, like the object of the Anglo-German 
intervention in Venezuela, was to obtain redress 
for injuries to European residents, and payment 
of debts due to subjects of the three Powers. Eng- 
land and Spain soon discovered that the French 
Emperor had quite other designs, being minded 
to substitute a Mexican Empire for the Mexican 
Republic. Sir John Acton explained why in 
his opinion, which has not been justified by ex- 
perience, Mexico was unable to stand alone. " A 
society so constituted could not make a nation. 
There was no middle class, no impulse to industry, 
no common civilisation, no public spirit, no sense of 
patriotism. The Indians were not suffered to acquire 
wealth, or knowledge, and every class was kept in 
ignorance and in rigorous exclusion; when there- 
fore the Mexicans made themselves independent, 
the difficulty was to throw off not the bondage but 
the nonage in which they had been held, and to 
overcome the mental incapacity, the want of enter- 
prise, the want of combination among themselves, 
and of the enlightenment which comes from inter- 
course with other nations. They formed a Republic 
after the model of their more fortunate neighbours, 
and accepted those principles which are so inflexible 
in their consequences, and so unrelenting in their 
consistency." Between the Mexican Republic and 
the Republic of the United States there is no doubt 
all the difference between Alexander the Copper- 
smith and Alexander the Great. But Benito Juarez 
was both a better and an abler man than Acton 



INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR 43 

gave him credit for being, and his successor, Porfi- 
rio Diaz, proved himself to be a most efficient ruler. 
A Civil War in Mexico, simultaneous with Civil 
War in the United States, gave Napoleon the op- 
portunity he wanted. The one furnished a pretext, 
the other removed a barrier, and it was not till long 
after the Austrian Archduke Maximilian had been 
put upon his pinchbeck throne that President John- 
son was in a position to order the French troops 
out of the American Continent. The poor Arch- 
duke himself, basely deserted by the unscrupulous 
potentate who had sent him to his doom, showed a 
chivalrous honour and an unselfish courage that 
fully justify Acton's description of him as " almost 
the noblest of his race." The lecture describes the 
pathetic isolation of Maximilian in a passage of sin- 
gular power. " There was nothing for him to look 
forward to in Europe. No public career was open 
to the man who had failed so signally in an enter- 
prise of his own seeking. His position in Austria, 
which had been difficult before, would be intolerable 
now. He had quarrelled with his family, with his 
Church, and with the protector to whose tempta- 
tions he had hearkened. And for him there was to 
be no more the happiness of the domestic hearth. 1 
In Mexico there were no hopes to live for, but there 
was still a cause in which it would be glorious to 
die. There were friends whom he could not leave 
to perish in expiation of measures which had been 
his work. He knew what the vengeance of the vic- 

1 His wife had become insane on the failure of her mission to 
France. 



44 INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR 

tors would be. He knew that those who had been 
most faithful to him would be most surely slaugh- 
tered ; and he deemed that he, who had never been 
seen on a field of battle, had no right to fly without 
fighting. Probably he felt that when a monarch 
cannot preserve his throne, nothing becomes him 
better than to make his grave beneath its ruins." 
Sir John Acton closed his lecture with the ex- 
pression of a hope that the United States would 
not undertake the government of Mexico. " A 
confederacy," he observed, "loses its true char- 
acter when it rules over dependencies; and a de- 
mocracy lives a threatened life that admits millions 
of a strange and inferior race which it can neither 
assimilate nor absorb." The warning was unneeded, 
for the days of American Imperialism were not yet. 
But the words have a perennial wisdom which the 
new owners of the Philippines might find it worth 
their while to consider. 

Sir John Acton stood again for Bridgnorth, this 
time unsuccessfully, at the General Election of 
November 1868. His personal friend and political 
leader, Mr. Gladstone, became Prime Minister in 
December of the same year, and his first legislative 
work was the disestablishment of the Irish Church. 
With this policy Sir John Acton, not as a Catholic, 
but as a Liberal, was in full and complete sympathy. 
He regarded it as " no isolated fact, but an indica- 
tion of a change which is beginning to affect all 
the nations of Christendom and bears witness to the 
consciousness that political obligation is determined, 
not by arbitrary maxims of expediency, but by defi- 



INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR 45 

nite and consistent principles." " The political 
connection," he added, that is, the Liberal party, 
" which, in spite of many errors and shortcomings, 
has been identified with the development of our 
constitutional liberties, and with the advance of 
science in our legislation, has entered on a new 
phase of its existence. And it follows a wise and 
resolute leader, at whose call the nation has arisen, 
for the first time in history, to the full height of its 
imperial vocation " [Edinburgh Review, No. 404, 
p. 516). 

Although, as has been said, Acton held that the 
two great political questions of the time were first 
the relations of the Church with the State, and 
secondly, the reform of the Land Laws, events were 
impending which affected him for a time far more 
deeply than either. Believing, as he did, that "the 
full exposition of truth is the great object for which 
the existence of mankind is prolonged on earth," he 
could not allow the Papal Syllabus to deter him 
from following truth with all the knowledge and 
ability he could command. The Chronicle, for 
which he had written so often, came to an end in 
1868. But the same editor, Mr. Wetherell, took 
over next year the North British Review, to which 
Acton contributed a learned essay on the Massacre 
of Saint Bartholomew, marshalling the facts in 
favour of the theory that the murder of the Hugue- 
nots had been premeditated at Rome. Researches 
such as these, and the consequences which they 
involved, were not congenial to the Vatican, nor 
to the personally amiable, dogmatically unbending 



46 INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR 

Pontiff who was still under the protection of foreign 
bayonets. But to no one was Acton's freedom of 
speculation and inquiry more repugnant than to the 
able and ambitious prelate who had succeeded Wise- 
man as Catholic Archbishop of Westminster. Dr. 
Manning was at that time a rigid supporter of ex- 
treme Ultramontane doctrine, and of authority as 
opposed to freedom in opinion. With the ardent 
zeal of a convert, and a convert, as his recent ap- 
pointment (1865) showed, much in favour at Rome, 
he strove to suppress the religious independence of 
the English Catholics. But an historical contro- 
versy with Acton was a serious affair. It resembled 
nothing so much as going in for a public examina- 
tion with a reasonable certainty of being plucked, 
and that prospect did not smile upon dignified 
ecclesiastics impressed with a due sense of their own 
importance. Moreover Manning was already ab- 
sorbed in a policy which would put down moral and 
intellectual rebellion in the Church of Rome once 
for all. 

So early as the 8th of December 1867 the Pope 
had signed a Bull, convening the whole episcopate 
of his Church to an CEcumenical Council at Rome 
in the same month of 1869. Although it was not 
officially stated, it was perfectly well known, that 
the object of the Council was to proclaim the 
infallibility of the still Sovereign Pontiff. A 
famous book, emanating from Munich, " The Pope 
and the Council," by "Janus," which from trie 
Catholic point of view combated the doctrine of 
Infallibility, received appreciative notice from Lord 



INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR 47 

Acton in the North British Review. This maga- 
zine, though short-lived, and never very widely cir- 
culated, appealed more successfully than any of its 
contemporaries to the lettered and learned class. 
Some of its articles, such as the essays of Thomas 
Hill Green, the Hegelian philosopher of Balliol, 
occupy a permanent place in the literature of 
metaphysics. The article on " The Pope and the 
Council" was therefore sure to be read by those 
who, by voice or pen, exercise an influence over 
the minds of others. The reviewer did not mince 
his words. He pointed out to the bishops that 
they had already committed themselves to a very 
grave extent. In 1854 they had allowed the Pope 
to proclaim a new dogma, the Immaculate Concep- 
tion. In 1862 nearly all of them had pronounced 
in favour of the temporal power. In 1864 they 
accepted the Syllabus. In 1867 they expressed 
their willingness to believe whatever the Pope 
might teach them. " Janus " had passed lightly 
over the Council of Trent, the subject of a work 
by Fra Paolo Sarpi which Macaulay considered 
second only in historical value to the books of Thu- 
cydides. Lord Acton, who had much in common 
with Fra Paolo, expressed his own view with unmis- 
takable energy and force. " The Council of Trent," 
he said, " impressed on the Church the stamp of an 
intolerant age, and perpetuated by its decrees the 
spirit of an austere immorality." It should be the 
object of the forthcoming Council to reform, to re- 
model, and to adapt the work which had been done 
at Trent. 



48 INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR 

What actually happened was very different from 
that which Acton desired, though not very different 
from what he expected. Sir John went to Rome 
some time before the opening of the Council, full of 
interest in the result, and full of sympathy with the 
distinguished minority who were prepared to resist 
the forging of fresh chains upon their freedom. 
Among this minority the most conspicuous was 
Monseigneur Darboy, Archbishop of Paris, whose 
tragic death at the hands of the Commune encircled 
his name with the halo of a martyr and a saint. 
" The Archbishop of Paris," wrote Acton, " had 
taken no hostile step in reference to the Council, 
but he was feared the most of all the men expected 
at Rome. The Pope had refused to make him a 
Cardinal, and had written to him a letter of reproof, 
such as has seldom been received by a bishop. It 
was felt that he was hostile, not episodically to a 
single measure, but to the peculiar spirit of this pon- 
tificate. He had none of the conventional prejudices 
and assumed antipathy which are congenial to the 
hierarchical mind. He was without pathos or affec- 
tation, and he had good sense, a perfect temper, and 
an intolerable wit" {Edinburgh Review, No. 4,04, 
p. 521). By the end of December 1869 Darboy 
had exacted a promise that the dogma of Infallibility 
would not be proclaimed by acclamation, so as to 
take the majority by surprise. Lord Acton wrote 
frequent reports of the Council and its proceedings, 
chiefly to Mr. Gladstone and Professor Dollinger, 
some of which were afterwards collected and pub- 
lished as the " Letters of Quirinus " in the Allge- 



INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR 49 

meine Zeitung. Lord Acton considered that the 
cause of the minority was lost when, on the 24th of 
April 1870, the Council adopted the Supplement to 
the First Decree. This was to the effect that the 
judgments of the Holy See must be observed, even 
when they proscribe opinions not actually heretical. 
Lord Acton's comment upon this vote of the epis- 
copal majority does not lack incisiveness. " They 
might," he wrote, " conceivably contrive to bind and 
limit dogmatic infallibility with conditions so strin- 
gent as to evade many of the objections taken from 
the examples of history ; but in requiring submission 
to Papal decrees on matters not articles of faith, 
they were approving that of which they knew the 
character; they were confirming, without let or 
question, a power they saw in daily exercise ; they 
were investing with new authority the existing bulls, 
and giving unqualified sanction to the inquisitor 
and the index, to the murder of heretics and the 
deposing of kings. They approved what they were 
called on to reform, and blessed with their lips what 
their hearts knew to be accursed." 

A private letter to Mr. Gladstone, written a month 
before the first meeting of the Council, shows how 
gloomy were Lord Acton's apprehensions. "Every- 
thing," he says, " is prepared here for the production 
of Papal infallibility, and the plan of operations is 
already laid down in a way which shows an at- 
tentive study of Sarpi's ' History of the Council 
of Trent.' They are sure of a large majority." A 
majority, however, would scarcely do. CEcumenical 
Councils, if not absolutely unanimous, are supposed 



50 INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR 

to attain that moral unanimity which the insignifi- 
cance of a minority implies. The attitude of the 
French, and still more of the German and Aus- 
tro-Hungarian bishops, inspired the Vatican with 
some alarm. Darboy and Dupanloup were names 
known and esteemed throughout the Catholic world. 
Bishops Strossmayer and Hefele, the latter a man 
of prodigious learning, were still more strongly 
opposed to the Papal policy than their French col- 
leagues. Against the expediency of promulgating 
the doctrine there was a resolute and well-organised 
mass of opinion in the Council. There were few 
prepared to call the doctrine itself false, and there- 
fore ready to resist it in the last extremity. To 
drive a wedge between the majority of the minority 
and the minority of the minority was the obvious 
tactics of the Pope and his Ultramontane advisers. 
" If the Court of Rome is defeated," Lord Acton 
wrote, " it can only be by men of principle and of 
science." He believed that a letter from Mr. Glad- 
stone, dealing with the secular side of the question, 
and with the effect which the decree would have upon 
the future of English and Irish Catholics, might do 
much to counteract the influence of Manning. It 
was impossible for the English Premier to interfere 
directly with the affairs of another Church. But he 
allowed Lord Acton to state what he thought about 
the effects of Ultramontanism on the prospects of 
educational measures in England. Lord Acton esti- 
mated that the bishops opposed to the expediency 
of the dogma were about two hundred in number, 
while only as many score would vote against its truth. 



INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR 51 

No sooner did the Council meet than regulations 
were issued which gave the Pope the sole right of 
making decrees and defining dogmas. To this the 
Council submitted. " The sole legislative authority," 
Lord Acton wrote on the 1st of January 1870, "has 
been abandoned to the Pope. It includes the right 
of issuing dogmatic decrees, and involves the pos- 
session of all the Infallibility which the Church 
claims." " We have to meet," he added, " an organ- 
ised conspiracy to establish a power which would be 
the most formidable enemy of liberty as well as sci- 
ence throughout the world. It can only be met and 
defeated through the Episcopate, and the Episcopate 
is exceedingly helpless." So it proved. But Lord 
Acton, besides helping the minority with the re- 
sources of his knowledge and the power of his logic, 
endeavoured to invoke the secular arm. He was 
sanguine enough to hope that, as the Pope had 
anathematised modern civilisation and progress, the 
governments of Catholic and even of . Protestant 
countries would take some steps in self-defence. 
The opposition in the Council, he held, was " almost 
sure to prevail if it were supported, and almost sure 
to be crushed if it were not." The change of Min- 
istry in France at the beginning of 1870, and the 
substitution of M. Ollivier for M. Rouher, alarmed 
the Vatican, although the French ambassador, the 
Marquis de Banneville, declared that there would 
be no change of policy. De Banneville was wrong. 
The new French Government announced that if 
the dogma were carried the French troops would be 
recalled, although Cardinal Antonelli assured Count 



52 INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR 

Dam, the French Minister for Foreign Affairs, that 
the Council was purely theological, and had nothing 
to do with secular affairs. The threat, however, had 
no effect. The Pope had gone too far to recede, and 
the forces of the opposition became daily weaker. 
There was no hope, and no future, for those bishops 
who set themselves against the majority of their col- 
leagues and the head of their Church. Except in 
France, they could not look for the protection of the 
Government, and the French Emperor was a bruised 
reed. " Two days ago," wrote Lord Acton on the 
1 6th of February, "a definite message was sent by 
the Emperor to Cardinal Antonelli, in which the 
Emperor declared that he could not afford to have 
a schism in France, where all the employe class, all 
the literary class, and even the Faubourg St. Ger- 
main are against the Infallibility of the Pope. He 
added that it would dissolve all the engagements 
existing between France and Rome." But Anto- 
nelli, a remarkably shrewd specimen of the Italian 
diplomatist, calculated that if the bishops yielded, 
the rest of the practising Catholics would follow 
them. In another passage of the same most inter- 
esting letter Lord Acton says that the Schema de 
Ecclesia, already adopted by the Council, "makes 
civil legislation on all points of contract, marriage, 
education, clerical universities, mortmain, even on 
many questions of taxation and common law, subject 
to the legislation of the Church, which would simply 
be the arbitrary will of the Pope. Most assuredly no 
man accepting such a code could be a loyal subject, or 
fit for the enjoyment of political privileges. In this 



INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR 53 

sense the French bishops have written to the French 
Government, and that is what they ask me to write 
to you." How deep an impression this letter made 
upon Mr. Gladstone's mind became apparent when, 
a few years afterwards, he entered into controversy 
with the Church of Rome. Strange as it may 
seem, these Gallican prelates appealed through Lord 
Acton to the Government of the Queen, seeing " no 
human remedy for this peril other than the inter- 
vention of the Powers." But the British Govern- 
ment could not have acted, even in concert with 
France, unless they had been prepared to face a 
storm of indignation, Protestant as well as Catho- 
lic, which no British interest required them to en- 
counter. 

After the decree of Infallibility had been produced, 
the German prelates made an important protest 
against bishops without sees, chiefly Roman Mon- 
signori, being allowed to vote, and also complained, 
in words furnished by Lord Acton himself, that the 
claim to enact dogmas by a majority endangered the 
freedom, as well as the universality, of the Council. 
But " the minority were in great confusion and uncer- 
tainty, and disposed to rely on external help." That 
help they never received. Lord Acton put the dan- 
ger as strongly as he could. Catholics, he declared, 
would " at once become irredeemable enemies of 
civil and religious liberty. They would have to 
profess a false system of morality, and to repudiate 
literary and scientific sincerity. They would be as 
dangerous to civil society in the school as in the 
State." But between Catholics who held that with 



54 INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR 

such matters it would be profane for any Protestant 
to meddle, and Protestants who rejoiced that now 
at last the Catholics were coming out in their true 
colours, the Cabinet, if they had taken Lord 
Acton's advice, would have had an uneasy, and 
barely defensible, position. So what Acton calls 
"this insane enterprise" of conferring upon the 
Pope an unconditional and unlimited infallibility 
was suffered to proceed without any political re- 
monstrance from England. Mr. Odo Russell, 
afterwards Lord Ampthill, Lord John's nephew, 
was instructed to keep the Foreign Office informed 
of what happened at the Council, but his informa- 
tion was much less copious than Lord Acton's. 
He was not instructed to do anything more, and 
officially he was a member of the Legation at 
Florence. While other governments did nothing, 
the Italian Government, in Lord Acton's opinion, 
made matters worse. Their measures of what he 
called confiscation against the property of the 
Church would, he thought, prevent some Italian 
bishops from voting in the minority who would 
otherwise have been disposed to do so. Yet, if Lord 
Acton were right in his description of the Papal 
policy, he could hardly have been surprised that Lib- 
eral governments in Catholic countries should regard 
the Church as an enemy. 

On the 15th of March 1870, a curious protest was 
presented to the Council by some bishops of the 
United Kingdom. The substance of it is thus de- 
scribed by Lord Acton : " They state that the Eng- 
lish and Irish Catholics obtained their emancipation, 



INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR 55 

and the full privileges of citizenship, by solemn and 
repeated declarations that their religion did not 
teach the dogma now proposed ; that these declara- 
tions made by the bishops, and permitted by Rome, 
are, in fact, the conditions under which Catholics 
are allowed to sit in Parliament, and to hold offices 
of trust and responsibility under the Crown; and 
that they cannot be forgotten or overlooked by us 
without dishonour." Lord Acton complained bit- 
terly of France because she maintained the temporal 
power of the Pope, and excluded Italians from their 
national capital, by their troops, while yet she would 
not attempt to restrain him from abusing the juris- 
diction she enabled him to exercise. " The religious 
houses are suppressed, the schools of divinity re- 
duced, the priesthood almost starved, because France 
is determined to keep the Pope on his despotic 
throne. It is a policy which degrades the Italian 
Government in the eyes of the nation, nurses the 
revolutionary passion, and hinders the independence 
of the country, and which can no longer be defended 
on the score of religious liberty. The French Pro- 
tectorate has become as odious to Catholicism as to 
the Italian State, and it is about to prove as per- 
nicious to other countries as it is to Italy." When 
a division was taken on the dogma of Infallibility, 
451 bishops voted with the Pope, 88 against him, 
and 62 for further inquiry. Then the minority gave 
up the struggle, and when, on the 18th of July, three 
days after the declaration of war between France 
and Germany, the principle was formally defined, 
only two bishops resisted the acclamation of 533. 



56 INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR 

A few weeks later the French troops left Rome, and 
the temporal power was at an end. 

Such was the miserably futile result of the Oppo- 
sition led by Darboy, Dupanloup, Rauscher, Schwart- 
zenberg, Kenrick, Conolly, Hefele, and Strossmayer. 
They were borne down by the dead weight of num- 
bers, and the traditional authority of the Holy See. 
Catholics were offered the choice of submission or 
excommunication. The official head of the English 
Catholics, Manning, was among the most zealous 
supporters of the Papacy. Newman deeply de- 
plored, but humbly submitted. So even did Stross- 
mayer, the brave and eloquent Croat, who had been 
shouted down at the Council in violent and abusive 
language when he denied that Protestantism was 
the source of Atheism, and pleaded for the old 
Catholic rule of unanimity. Dollinger, challenged 
by the Archbishop of Munich to accept the decree, 
refused, and was cut off, like Spinoza, to his eternal 
honour, from the congregation of the faithful. Lord 
Acton, on the other hand, the stay and support of 
the minority throughout the Council and before it, 
was not molested, perhaps because he was a layman, 
perhaps because he was a peer. 

While he was at Rome, in November 1869, Acton 
had received from Mr. Gladstone, and accepted, the 
offer of a barony. For a young man of thirty-five 
this was a great and most unusual distinction. It 
was made all the greater by the fact that his name 
occurred in the first list of such recommendations 
submitted by the Prime Minister to the Queen. At 
that time the general public hardly knew Sir John 



INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR 57 

Acton's name. But he had all the usual qualifica- 
tions for a peerage, except wealth, being connected 
with the aristocracy by birth and marriage, the head 
of an old English family, and the inheritor of an old 
English baronetcy, who had gained six years' politi- 
cal experience in the House of Commons. " His 
character," Mr. Gladstone wrote to the Queen, " is 
of the first order, and he is one of the most learned 
and accomplished, though one of the most modest 
and unassuming, men of the day " (Morley's " Life 
of Gladstone," ii. 430). No praise could be better 
deserved, or expressed with more studious modera- 
tion. Lord Acton pursued in the House of Lords 
the same silent course that he had adopted in the 
House of Commons. He remained, unlike many 
peers of Mr. Gladstone's creation, faithful to the 
Liberal party, at that time, and for so many years 
afterwards, led by his step-father, Lord Granville. 

Lord Acton was made an Honorary Doctor of 
Philosophy by the University of Munich in 1872, the 
last year of the North British Review, after which he 
ceased to write regularly for the Press. In 1873 a 
very different honour was in contemplation. He had 
been consulted by Lord Granville upon the European 
situation, then regarded as critical, and showed such 
remarkable knowledge of it that the idea of sending 
him as Ambassador to Berlin was seriously enter- 
tained {Edinburgh Review, No. 404, p. 528). The 
appointment would in many ways have been desirable, 
and in some unexceptionable. For Lord Acton was 
a born diplomatist, and, though the German Emperor 
was a Protestant, half the empire was Catholic. But 



58 INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR 

the prize was apparently thought too high for a man 
outside the diplomatic service who had filled no other 
post under the Crown. Lord Acton remained at 
home, and in 1874 found himself suddenly once again 
in the thick of a theological battle. The echoes of the 
Vatican Council, and of Papal pretensions, seemed to 
have died away, when, in November 1874, Mr. Glad- 
stone, freed from the trammels of office, and regarding 
his leadership of the Liberal party as near its close, 
startled the world by a pamphlet on " The Vatican 
Decrees in their Bearing on Civil Allegiance." He 
had previously, in an article on " Ritualism," con- 
tributed to the Contemporary Review, expressed his 
opinion that Romanising in the Church of England 
was least to be feared at a moment "when Rome had 
substituted for the proud boast of semper eadem a 
policy of violence and change in faith; when she had 
refurbished and paraded anew every rusty tool she 
was fondly thought to have disused ; when no one 
could become her convert without renouncing his 
moral and mental freedom, and placing his civil 
loyalty and duty at the mercy of another; and when 
she had equally repudiated modern thought and 
ancient history." While in this frame of mind, 
Mr. Gladstone paid a visit to Munich, and had 
many long talks with the venerable Professor Dbl- 
linger. The spectacle of a man so wise, pious, 
learned, and holy under the ban of the Church 
seems to have kindled in him a burning indigna- 
tion against the authors of the Vatican decrees. 
He wrote a pamphlet, and informed Lord Acton 
from Hawarden in October that he meant to pub- 



INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR 59 

lish it. Lord Acton deprecated this step. He was 
far nearer to Mr. Gladstone in opinion than he was 
to the Court of Rome. But he had no desire to see 
the subject reopened, knowing that the withdrawal 
of the decrees was impossible, and fearing that pub- 
lic opinion might be dangerously excited against his 
fellow-Catholics by so powerful an onslaught. He 
did not sufficiently allow for the great progress in 
the direction of tolerance made since the passing of 
the Ecclesiastical Titles Act, which Mr. Gladstone 
himself had repealed three years before. The pam- 
phlet appeared in November 1874, and more than 
a hundred thousand copies of it were sold. The 
English Catholics were disturbed. Some were in- 
dignant, and some were alarmed. But in the end 
they were none the worse. On the contrary, Mr. 
Gladstone did them a service by giving them an 
opportunity to declare that they were, and always 
would be, as loyal and patriotic as their Protestant 
countrymen. It is impossible not to trace in Mr. 
Gladstone's pamphlet, as in the passage already cited 
from the Contemporary Review, the effect of Lord 
Acton's letters from Rome in 1870. The substance 
of the argument is that the Catholics obtained eman- 
cipation by denying that Papal infallibility was a 
dogma of their Church, and that the Power which 
had changed their faith might change their alle- 
giance. The Vatican decrees reversed the policy 
of Clement the Fourteenth, who, by overthrowing 
the supremacy of the Jesuits, had "levelled in the 
dust the deadliest foes that mental and moral liberty 
had ever known." Equality of civil rights should 



60 INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR 

be maintained without regard for religious differ- 
ences. But Mr. Gladstone thought himself entitled 
to ask the Catholics of England and Ireland whether 
they would assist in the re-erection of the temporal 
power by force. Many were the answers to this 
famous pamphlet. The most eloquent was New- 
man's. The most hostile was Manning's. The 
most interesting was Acton's. It is characteristic 
of Lord Acton's courage and candour that he should 
have answered at all. He was regarded at Rome 
with something more than suspicion, and nobody 
quite understood why he had escaped the fate of 
Dollinger. There was nothing that Mr. Gladstone 
could say of the decrees too strongly condemnatory 
to command his assent. But his invincible integrity 
of mind would not allow him, for the sake of his own 
peace, to acquiesce in the practical conclusions which 
Mr. Gladstone drew from irrefragable premises. In 
several letters written for the Times, one of them 
addressed personally to Mr. Gladstone, Lord Acton 
gave the only reply which could in the circum- 
stances be given. Mr. Gladstone's reasoning was 
unassailable in argument. But man is not a logi- 
cal animal. People are sometimes better than their 
principles, sometimes worse, very seldom consistent. 
As Mr. Gladstone himself had said a few years before, 
" The limit of possible variation between character 
and opinion — aye, between character and belief — 
is widening and will widen." Lord Acton, with all 
his subtlety and all his learning, could only take 
refuge in the old and familiar truth that what a man 
will do cannot be inferred from what he believes. 



INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR 61 

The Corptis Juris, he said {Times, November 9, 
1874), makes the murder of Protestants lawful. 
Pius the Fifth justified the assassination of Eliza- 
beth. Gregory the Thirteenth condoned, or rather ap- 
plauded, the massacre of Saint Bartholomew ( Times, 
November 24). Was it therefore fair to assume that 
all Catholics who accepted the Vatican decrees, or 
even all Ultramontanes, were potential murderers ? 
" Communion with Rome," he said at the same time, 
" is dearer to me than life." He concluded his letters 
in dignified and moving sentences, which made a 
deep and just impression upon Catholics and Protes- 
tants alike. " It would be well if men had never 
fallen into the temptation of suppressing truth and 
encouraging error for the better security of religion. 
Our Church stands, and our faith should stand, not 
on the virtues of men, but on the surer ground of an 
institution and a guidance that are divine. I should 
dishonour and betray the Church if I entertained a 
suspicion that the evidence of religion could be weak- 
ened or the authority of councils sapped by a know- 
ledge of the facts with which I have been dealing, 
or of others which are not less grievous or less cer- 
tain because they remain untold." It was not to be 
supposed that this language would give satisfaction 
to the dominant party in the Church of Rome, which 
had already been much tried by Lord Acton's energy 
behind the scenes during the Vatican Council. An 
apology which was more injurious than the attack 
added fuel to the flames. " If I am excommuni- 
cated," he wrote to Mr. Gladstone from Aldenham 
on the 19th of December 1874, " I should rather 



62 INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR 

say when I am." Yet he was not. He satisfied his 
bishop, Browne of Shrewsbury, that he was dogmati- 
cally sound, and that it would have been incon- 
sistent with his argument to attack the Vatican 
decrees. He had indeed accepted them as the 
foundation of his case. What he wanted to show 
was that neither the Jesuits nor the Inquisition, 
neither false doctrines nor bad Popes, had made 
Catholics indifferent to the moral law. Manning, 
now a Cardinal, was not so easily contented as Bishop 
Browne, or as Bishop Clifford, who also absolved 
Lord Acton. His haughty and commanding temper 
had been stimulated by promotion, and by the favour 
of the Pope. It was one of his most cherished aims 
to humble the pride of the old Catholic families, and 
make them feel the discipline of the Church. He 
wrote three letters to Lord Acton, and received, it 
need scarcely be said, the most courteous replies, 
which left him as wise as he was before. But he 
went no further, and the correspondence was never 
published. Manning was not without prudence, and 
he shrank from proceeding to extremities with a man 
whose intellect was as keen as his, and whose know- 
ledge was vastly superior. It would not have cost 
Lord Acton much research to produce a summary 
account of the Inquisition, or a biographical sketch 
of selected Popes, which would have done more to 
prove the soundness of his position than to edify 
the Christian world. The new cardinal, if he had 
indulged in an historical controversy with " Quiri- 
nus," might have emerged from it with less credit to 
himself than amusement to the learned society of 



INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR 63 

Europe. For these, or for other reasons, he con- 
cluded to leave Lord Acton alone. 

Henceforth, Lord Acton abandoned theological 
polemics, and devoted himself to his true life, the 
life of a student. He loved truth too much to love 
controversy for its own sake, and he was conscious 
that, though he had escaped penalties, orthodox 
Catholics would not receive his arguments without 
prejudice. Mr. Gladstone wrote another pamphlet, 
in which, while maintaining his own position, he 
accepted the loyal assurances of the Catholics as 
sincere, and with that the controversy ceased. But 
in June 1876 Lord Acton wrote him a private letter, 
which contains the clearest statement of his own 
opinion upon Ultramontanism and Ultramontanes. 
" I have tried in vain," he wrote, " to reconcile my- 
self to your opinion that Ultramontanism really 
exists as a definite and genuine system of religious 
faith, providing its own solutions of ethical and 
metaphysical problems, and satisfying the conscience 
and the intellect of conscientious and intelligent 
men. It has never been my fortune to meet with an 
esoteric Ultramontane — I mean, putting aside the 
ignorant mass, and those who are incapable of rea- 
soning, that I do not know of a religious and edu- 
cated Catholic who really believes that the See of 
Rome is a safe guide to salvation. ... In short, I 
do not believe there are Catholics who, sincerely and 
intelligently, believe that Rome is right and that 
Dollinger is wrong. And therefore I think you 
are too hard on Ultramontanes, or too gentle with 
Ultramontanism. You say, for instance, that it pro- 



64 INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR 

motes untruthfulness. I don't think that is fair. It 
not only promotes, it inculcates, distinct mendacity 
and deceitfulness. In certain cases it is made a 
duty to lie. But those who teach this doctrine do 
not become habitual liars in other things." 

With this plain and straightforward language we 
may leave Lord Acton as a theologian, and pass to 
other aspects of his busy life. His great work 
should have been, and was intended to be, a History 
of Liberty. For that purpose his library at Alden- 
ham was collected, and to frame different definitions 
of liberty was one of his favourite pastimes. He 
loved liberty with all the ardour of Milton, and in- 
vestigated it with all the science of Locke. Even 
Liberalism, which may be thought an inferior thing, 
was with him " the beginning of real religion, a con- 
dition of interior Catholicism " (Acton to Gladstone, 
March 22, 1891). This History was never written, 
nor even begun. All that there is of it, all that 
there ever was of it, except books and notes, ma- 
terials for others to use, consists of two lectures 
delivered at Bridgnorth in the year 1877. One was 
called "The History of Freedom in Antiquity," and 
the other " The History of Freedom in Christianity." 
These lectures are exceedingly rare, and the only 
copies I have seen are in the British Museum. If 
the audience listened to them with pleasure, and 
absorbed them with ease, they had intellects of 
unusual caliber, and employed them to the best 
advantage. Read carefully and at leisure, they are 
full of suggestion and of insight. Their fault is 
that, in homely phrase, they pour a quart of liquor 



INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR 65 

into a pint pot. They are so much crowded with 
names and references, that to follow the chief thread 
of the argument is made needlessly hard. " It 
would be easy," the Bridgnorth Institute was told, 
"to point out a paragraph in St. Augustine, or a 
sentence of Grotius, that outweighs in influence the 
Acts of fifty Parliaments ; and our case owes more 
to Cicero and Seneca, to Vinet and Tocqueville, 
than to the laws of Lycurgus, or the five codes of 
France." The sentence and the paragraph should 
have been pointed out. Something should have 
been said, if not about Vinet and Tocqueville, at 
least about Cicero and Seneca. A geographer may 
have too many names in his map, and a learned 
man may condense his knowledge until it has no 
meaning for those who know less than himself. 
But, on the other hand, these lectures contain pas- 
sages at once lucid and worth their weight in gold, 
which could only have come from a mind at once 
acute, meditative, and well stored. Such, for in- 
stance, is the declaration, " By liberty I mean the 
assurance that every man shall be protected in 
doing what he believes his duty against the influence 
of authority and majorities, custom and opinion." 
" Liberty," proceeds the lecturer, " is not a means to 
a higher political end. It is itself the highest politi- 
cal end. ... A generous spirit prefers that his 
country should be poor, and weak, and of no ac- 
count, but free, rather than powerful, prosperous, 
and enslaved. It is better to be the citizen of a 
humble commonwealth in the Alps than a subject 
of the superb autocracy that overshadows half of 



66 INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR 

Asia and of Europe." This will seem a hard saying 
to many, and it is indeed far removed from the sen- 
sual idolatry of mere size that vulgarises modern 
Imperialism. But it was with Lord Acton a funda- 
mental principle, and it is not the size of Periclean 
Athens, or of Elizabethan England, which made 
them imperishably great. " It is bad to be op- 
pressed by a minority, but it is worse to be 
oppressed by a majority." Worse, because more 
desperate, with less hope of rebellion, or escape. 
We must look, Lord Acton warns us, to substance 
and essence, not to form and outward show. The 
martyrdom of Socrates was the act of a free Repub- 
lic, and it was Caesar who liberated Rome from the 
tyranny of Republican institutions. The fault of 
the classical State was that it tried to be Church 
and State in one, and thus infringed upon individu- 
alism by regulating religion. The three things 
wanting in ancient liberty were representative gov- 
ernment, emancipation of slaves, and freedom of 
conscience. In Christian times Thomas Aquinas 
anticipated the theory of the Whig Revolution. 
The worst enemy of freedom in modern times was 
that mock hero of sham greatness, Louis Quatorze. 
The only known forms of liberty are Republics and 
Constitutional Monarchies. " It was from America 
that the plain ideas that men ought to mind their 
own business, and that the nation is responsible to 
Heaven for the acts of the State, ideas long locked 
in the breast of solitary thinkers and hidden away 
in Latin folios, burst forth like a conqueror upon 
the world they were destined to transform under the 



INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR 67 

title of the Rights of Man." Ever since his visit to 
America in the days of President Pierce, if not be- 
fore, Acton had made a special study of the Ameri- 
can Constitution in its strength and its weakness, 
in the amplitude of its safeguards, and in its fatal 
want of elasticity. A Monarchy cannot be too con- 
stitutional. But a too constitutional Republic is a 
difficult machine to work. England, said a French 
critic, is a Republic with an hereditary President: 
the United States are a Monarchy with an elected 
King. 

From this time forward Lord Acton wrote less, 
and read, if possible, more. Dr. Shaw's careful 
Bibliography, my obligations to which I have al- 
ready acknowledged, contains nothing between 1877 
and 1885 except a review of Sir Erskine May's 
" Democracy in Europe " for the Quarterly of Janu- 
ary 1878. Sir Erskine May, the well known Clerk 
of the House, was a pleasant and popular writer, 
who dealt largely in generalisations, and sometimes 
condescended to platitudes. He was an earnest 
Liberal, though his office imposed some restraint 
upon his opinions, and it is creditable to the impar- 
tiality of the late Sir William Smith that he should 
have allowed a Liberal critic to deal with a Liberal 
author in the traditional organ of Conservatism. 
He certainly had his reward. For it would be 
difficult to find in the Quarterly Review from the 
days of Gifford and Southey to our own an article 
of more fascinating interest and more solid value 
than this masterly essay, which its author never 
took the trouble to republish. Notwithstanding 



68 INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR 

Lord Acton's minute and conscientious accuracy in 
points of detail, he is always best and most charac- 
teristic in broad, luminous inferences from large 
masses of history and long periods of time. He 
contented himself on this occasion with a few civil 
remarks about the public servant who made so in- 
dustrious a use of his leisure, and devoted the rest 
of his space, which was far too small, to a compari- 
son or contrast of democracy with freedom. He 
showed that for eleven hundred years, from the first 
Constantine to the last, the Christian Empire was 
as despotic as the pagan ; that it was Gregory the 
Seventh who made the Papacy independent of the 
empire; that Luther bequeathed as his political 
testament the doctrines of Divine right and passive 
obedience; and that Spanish Jesuits, in arguing 
against the title of Henry the Fourth to the throne 
of France, had anticipated the doctrines of Milton, 
Locke, and Rousseau. Passing on, with the ease 
of a man at home in all periods of history, to the 
dynastic change of 1688, he described the Whig 
settlement not as a Venetian oligarchy, but as an 
aristocracy of freeholders, while from the Ameri- 
can rebellion of the following century he drew the 
moral that a revolution with very little provocation 
may be just, and a democracy of very large dimen- 
sions may be safe. The defect in the principles of 
1789 was that they exalted equality at the expense 
of liberty, and subjected the free will of the individ- 
ual to the unbridled power of the State. 

After 1879 Lord Acton ceased to live at his 
country house in Shropshire, dividing the months 



INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR 69 

when he was not in London between Germany and 
the Riviera. Besides his great Library at Alden- 
ham, there was a smaller but complete library in 
each of his three houses. He usually spent the 
winter at Cannes, and the autumn in Bavaria, at 
Tegernsee, which belonged to the family of his 
wife. This cosmopolitan existence was by no 
means uncongenial to him, and, correspondence 
apart, he was not cut off from his English friends. 
Cannes in the season is as much English as 
French, and when Lord Acton was in London he 
made the best use of his time. The hours he spent 
in reading were so disposed that he could enjoy at 
the close of the day the sort of society he liked best. 
He was a member of Grillions and of The Club. 
He knew almost everybody worth knowing, and no 
one so fond of study was ever more sociable. But, 
as these letters show, the man whom above all 
others he esteemed and revered was Mr. Gladstone. 
Mr. Gladstone, with characteristic humility, always 
deferred to Lord Acton's judgment in matters his- 
torical. On the other hand, Lord Acton, the most 
hypercritical of men, and the precise opposite of a 
hero-worshipper, an iconoclast if ever there was one, 
regarded Mr. Gladstone as the first of English states- 
men, living or dead. The reason for this opinion 
will be found in the following pages. The opinion 
itself is not the less important because Lord Acton 
was in many respects cautious to a fault, and had 
little of the enthusiasm which sustained his idol. 
Except Dollinger, " the glory of Catholic learning," 
as Mr. Bryce well calls him, there was no other con- 



70 INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR 

temporary for whom Lord Acton felt unqualified 
reverence. Mere oratory had not much effect upon 
him, even if it were John Bright's or the Duke of 
Argyll's. Admiring, as he could not but admire, 
the charm and power of Newman's style, he con- 
sidered Newman himself to be a " sophist, the ma- 
nipulator, and not the servant, of truth." Knowing 
Mr. Gladstone from the inside, as few outside his 
own family knew him, he felt his simplicity as well 
as his greatness, and realised that he had no object 
except to learn what was true, and to do what was 
right. In politics there was no difference between 
the two men, unless it were that Lord Acton could 
never quite forgive Mr. Gladstone's eulogistic tribute 
to the memory of Lord Beaconsfield. Even in re- 
ligion that which divided them was small indeed 
when compared with that which united them. Lord 
Acton was as staunch a believer in religious liberty 
as any Protestant, and no Catholic could desire 
more fervently the reunion of Christendom. In 
politics, as I have said, the sympathy was complete. 
Unlike most Catholics, Acton had been in favour 
of Italian independence, so dear to Mr. Gladstone's 
heart. He had always belonged to the school 
of Liberals who put the rights of the individual 
above the claims of the State, and he had as little 
liking for Socialism as Mr. Gladstone himself. He 
held in utter detestation the foreign policy of Lord 
Beaconsfield, and that temper of mind which goes 
by the cant term of " Jingoism." No one rejoiced 
more heartily over the Liberal victory of 1880, or 
attributed it more exclusively to Mr. Gladstone. 



INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR 71 

No one worked harder to keep him at the head 
of the Liberal party, and no one can have foreseen 
more clearly the disastrous consequences of his 
final retirement. Perhaps the nearest approach 
to a schism between Lord Acton and his political 
chief was that each had a favourite novelist, and 
that neither would acknowledge the transcendent 
merits of the rival. Lord Acton was unjust to 
Scott. Mr. Gladstone underrated George Eliot. 
Lord Acton's estimate of George Eliot may be 
found in some of the ensuing letters, and in the 
Nineteenth Century for March 1885. This article, 
one of the most elaborate Lord Acton ever wrote, 
was translated into German, and, so far as the gen- 
eral public were concerned, might as well have ap- 
peared in that language at first. It is an extreme 
and provoking instance of the writer's passion for 
condensation, reference, and innuendo. It is well 
worth the trouble of reading, although fiction is 
not the province in which Lord Acton's opinion 
was most valuable. But the trouble is due to 
congested sentences, and might easily have been 
spared. 

When in 1886 Mr. Gladstone made his great 
attempt to settle the Irish question by Home Rule, 
Lord Acton gave him a zealous and cordial support. 
Although, as we have seen, he was far from holding 
the doctrine of nationality in an unqualified form, 
he had grasped for many years with increasing 
strength the conviction that Ireland could be or- 
derly and peaceably governed by Irishmen alone. 
So far back as October 1881, when the Liberal 



72 INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR 

Government and the Land League were in open 
hostility, and Mr. Parnell was arrested under 
the Coercion Act, he wrote, " The treatment of 
Home Rule as an idea conceivably reasonable (in 
the speech at Leeds) which was repeated at the 
Guildhall, delighted me." There were not many 
readers besides Lord Acton who discerned at that 
time the trend of Mr. Gladstone's ideas. But a 
very few months later, in February 1882, Mr. Glad- 
stone, speaking on the Address, used language of a 
much more significant kind, to Lord Acton's great 
delight. " I have long wished," he wrote on the 
20th of February, "for that declaration about self- 
government. . . . The occasion last week gave 
extraordinary weight to the words. . . . The risk 
is that he may seem to underrate the gravity of a 
great constitutional change in the introduction of 
a federal element." Lord Acton, it will be observed, 
much as he desired the change, did not ignore its 
risks, or even its perils. When the decisive mo- 
ment came, which Mr. Morley has described with 
so much eloquence and power (" Life of Gladstone," 
vol. iii. pp. 311-12), Lord Acton sounded a note of 
warning in the midst of his felicitations. " From 
the point of view of the ages," he wrote on the 18th 
of March 1 886, " it is the sublime crown of his work, 
and there is a moral grandeur about it which will, 
I hope, strengthen and console him under any 
amount of difficulty, and even disaster." It was 
this faculty of seeing the case against his own most 
deeply cherished principles and predilections which 
made Lord Acton so valuable a friend and coun- 



INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR 71 

sellor to Mr. Gladstone. Mr. Gladstone's splendid 
enthusiasm, and indomitable optimism, sometimes 
led him to ignore obstacles against which he might 
have provided. Acton, whose temperament was 
critical, as his mind was judicial, pointed out, with 
the sincerity of true friendship, though with unfail- 
ing tact, the clouds above and the rocks ahead. 
No man admired Mr. Gladstone more. No man 
flattered him less. 

The following letter to Mrs. Drew expresses his 
opinion at the time, and also the judgment of a dis- 
tinguished Italian statesman who was always friendly 
to England : — 

"Your letter comes in the midst of the living 
echoes of the speech, and of the uncertainty that 
follows, and does not quite relieve my feeling of 
apprehension. Rome is not a good place for accu- 
rate news, and I hope for more letters at Cannes in 
a couple of days. My old friend, Minghetti, is sink- 
ing under an incurable illness. The other night, 
when several people were attacking me about the 
Irish Bill, he said, very solemnly and in his best 
Italian : ' The one will be happy even if he fails, 
and the other will repent even of his success.' The 
other was Bismarck. Next morning came Herbert's 
letter saying that he feels that for himself the best 
thing would be defeat. 

" I hope that there is not any real inconsistency 
in my language or in my thoughts at this crisis. I 
am more decidedly in favour of the principle of the 
measure than anybody ; and there can hardly be one 



74 INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR 

among your father's friends who urged it more de- 
cidedly, though some followed more or less con- 
tentedly. The Bill is better than I sometimes 
expected it to be, on one or two important points. 
It is not only right in my eyes, but glorious as the 
summit of his career, and if I was on the spot I 
should be the warmest and the most convinced of 
its supporters. 

" But what makes it more admirable to me is that 
the stimulus is not hope but duty; that it is very 
much more clearly dictated by principle than by ex- 
pediency, that the supreme motive is not strongly 
sustained by sordid calculation. I do not see a real 
likelihood of its succeeding in this Session, and I am 
not sanguine about success in Ireland. 

" Arguments founded on the presumed good 
qualities of the Irish do not go very far with me, 
and I am ready to find the vices of the national 
character incurable. Especially in a country where 
religion does not work, ultimately, in favour of mo- 
rality ; therefore I am not hopeful, and it is with a 
mind prepared for failure and even disaster that I 
persist in urging the measure." 

His adhesion to the cause, though it had no 
weight with the mass of electors, who did not 
know his name, had a deep meaning of another 
kind. When many men of the lettered, scien- 
tific, and learned classes left the Liberal party 
rather than vote for Home Rule, one of the 
few English names that enjoyed a European 
reputation did something to counterbalance others 



INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR 75 

which were paraded so often that they seemed in- 
definitely numerous. 

Lord Acton, however, did not come forward as a 
popular champion of Home Rule, for which he 
could have furnished a host of historic precedents. 
In the sphere of action he was too apt to distrust 
himself. The House of Lords was not favourable 
for the purpose, and he never appeared on public 
platforms. He was more congenially occupied in 
founding the English Historical Review, of which 
the late Bishop Creighton, then Professor of Eccle- 
siastical History at Cambridge, was the first ed- 
itor. In 1887 he criticised, not without severity, 
the third and fourth volumes of the editor's great 
work on the Papacy. Some editors might have de- 
murred to the insertion of the article. But Creigh- 
ton was far above all petty and personal feelings of 
that or any kind. Among the other books noticed 
by Acton in the Historical Review were Seeley's 
" Life of Napoleon," Bright's " History of England" 
(by the Master of University), and Bryce's " Ameri- 
can Commonwealth." Academic honours were now 
coming in rapid succession. In 1888 Lord Acton 
was made an Honorary Doctor of Laws at Cam- 
bridge, in 1889 a Doctor of Civil Law at Oxford, 
and in 1890 an Honorary Fellow of All Souls, 
thereby becoming Mr. Gladstone's colleague. For 
a man who had published scarcely anything in his 
own name these compliments were as rare as they 
were just. 

When Mr. Gladstone formed his final Adminis- 
tration in 1892, Lord Acton was appointed a Lord- 



y6 INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR 

in-Waiting to the Queen. This may seem a 
singular method of rewarding literary merit. But 
the circumstances were peculiar. Lord Acton was 
desirous of showing his devotion to the Prime 
Minister, and his belief in the cause of Home Rule. 
His Parliamentary career had not been distinguished 
enough for more purely political office, and I am 
told by those who understand such matters that the 
lowness of his rank in the Peerage precluded him 
from a higher place in the Household. The 
incongruity, however, though Lord Acton felt it 
himself, was not quite so great as it looked. Be- 
sides their month's attendance at the Court, the 
Lords-in- Waiting are sometimes employed to rep- 
resent public departments in the House of Peers, 
and Lord Acton represented the Irish Office for 
the chief Secretary, Mr. Morley. In that character 
he showed, when occasion came, that his long 
silence in Parliament had not been due to incapa- 
city for public speaking. At Windsor he was 
agreeable to the Queen from his German tastes 
and sympathies, not to mention the fact that he 
could speak German as fluently as English. Every 
moment of leisure during his "wait" there was 
spent in the Castle library. Yet the position was 
an unnatural one, and Lord Acton soon became 
anxious to escape from it. His thoughts turned to 
his favourite Bavaria, and he humbly suggested the 
Legation at Stuttgart as a possible sphere. 

But something infinitely better than any political 
or diplomatic post remained for this born student 
and truly learned man. In 1895, just a year after 



INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR 77 

Mr. Gladstone's resignation, Sir John Seeley, Pro- 
fessor of Modern History at Cambridge, departed 
this life. The Chair was in the gift of the Crown, 
that is, of the Prime Minister, and Lord Rosebery 
appointed Lord Acton. The appointment was 
singularly felicitous, and the opportunity came in 
the nick of time. For the Liberal Government was 
tottering to its fall, and Lord Salisbury was not 
wont to overlook the claims of political supporters. 
Lord Rosebery 's choice was bold and unexpected. 
But it was more than successful ; it was triumphant. 
Lord Acton was of the same age as his predecessor, 
and it is a dangerous thing for a man to begin the 
business of teaching at sixty. An academic Board 
would not have had the courage to appoint Lord 
Acton. They would have dreaded his want of ex- 
perience. The advantage of retaining a connection 
of this kind with the State is that a Minister, rising 
above the purely academic point of view, will some- 
times overlook or ignore technical disqualifica- 
tions in favour of learning or genius. Even 
Cambridge herself was at first a little startled by 
the nomination of this famous, but rather myste- 
rious stranger. Lord Acton had to make his own 
way, and he was not long in making it. The open- 
ing sentences of his Inaugural Lecture on the 
Study of History put him at once on good terms 
with his audience, and through his audience with 
the University. " I look back to-day," he said 
(June 11, 1895), "to a time before the middle of the 
century, when I was reading at Edinburgh, and fer- 
vently wishing to come to this University. At 



78 INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR 

three Colleges I applied for admission, and, as 
things then were, I was refused by all. Here, from 
the first, I vainly fixed my hopes, and here, in a 
happier hour, after five-and-forty years, they are at 
last fulfilled." It is probable that the happiest 
hours of Lord Acton's life were spent at Cam- 
bridge. As the writer in the Edinburgh Review, so 
often quoted, says, " He loved Cambridge from his 
soul ; loved the grounds and the trees, the buildings 
and the romance of the old colleges, the treasures of 
the libraries, the intercourse with scholars." In his 
first lecture he tried to find some point of agree- 
ment with Seeley. But their views of History were 
fundamentally different. To Seeley, History was 
purely political. In Lord Acton's view it included 
social and intellectual movements neither propelled 
nor impeded by the State. Lord Acton reckoned 
Modern History as beginning with the close of the 
fifteenth century, "when Columbus subverted the 
notions of the world,. and reversed the conditions of 
production, wealth, and power ; Machiavelli released 
Government from the restraint of law; Erasmus 
diverted the current of ancient learning from pro- 
fane into Christian channels; Luther broke the 
chain of authority and tradition at the strongest 
link; and Copernicus erected an invincible power 
that set for ever the mark of progress upon the 
time that was to come." That " history is the true 
demonstration of religion " was one of the maxims 
which Lord Acton impressed upon his pupils at the 
first opportunity. But perhaps the most character- 
istic feature of the discourse is his insistence upon 



INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR 79 

the necessity of keeping up the moral standard. 
Better, he exclaimed, err, if at all, on the side of rig- 
our. For " if we lower our standard in history, we 
cannot uphold it in Church or State." When this 
brilliant and fascinating lecture came to be pub- 
lished, it was unfortunately encumbered by more 
than a hundred notes, all quotations, many of 
which merely expressed Lord Acton's meaning 
in language less forcible than his own. "As if," 
says Macaulay of some pointless reference to a 
Greek play by a Shakespearean commentator, "as 
if only Shakespeare and Euripides knew that 
mothers loved their children." Lord Acton was 
rather too apt to think that an expression of 
opinion, like a statement of fact, required an author- 
ity to support it. 

Even under the stimulus of Cambridge Lord 
Acton did not work quickly. During the five 
years of his active professorship he only delivered 
two courses of lectures. The first was on the 
French Revolution. The second was on Modern 
History as a whole. He would naturally and by 
preference have begun with the more general 
subject. But the exigencies of the Tripos, or of the 
Curriculum, prevailed, and the thoroughbred animal 
was put, not for the first time in this world, into the 
harness of a hack. Lord Acton's lectures were, as 
they were bound to be, crowded. But they were 
only a small part of what he did for Cambridge. 
An Honorary Fellow of Trinity, he received gradu- 
ate or undergraduate visitors with equal courtesy 
and kindness at his rooms in Nevill's Court. To 



80 INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR 

them, and to any one who could appreciate it, he 
would always readily impart the knowledge he had 
spent his life in acquiring. He was not merely a 
willing answerer of questions, and a generous lender 
of books. He had boxes full of the notes he had 
made since boyhood, each box appropriated to its 
peculiar subject, and these notes were at the dis- 
posal of all historical students who could make a 
proper use of them. His pupils were, as Mr. Bryce 
puts it, "awed by the majesty of his learning." 
" When Lord Acton answers a question put to 
him," said one of them, " I feel as if I were look- 
ing at a pyramid. I see the point of it clear and 
sharp, but I see also the vast subjacent mass of 
solid knowledge." 1 

The following letter from Dr. Henry Jackson, 
Fellow of Trinity, for which my warmest thanks 
are due to the distinguished writer, will be interest- 
ing to all who desire to know more of Lord Acton's 
Cambridge life : — 

" You ask me for information about Acton's life 
and work at Cambridge. I am not competent to 
write anything systematic about either the one or 
the other; but it is a pleasure to me to put down 
some of my recollections and impressions, and I 
shall be glad if my jottings are of any use to you. 

"When Seeley died in 1895, my first thought 
was — ' If they are good to us, they will send us 
Acton;' but I hardly hoped that he would be 
thought of, and I did not expect that, if he had the 

1 " Studies in Contemporary Biography," 398. 



INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR Si 

offer, he would accept it. So the news of his appoint- 
ment was to me a very joyful surprise. When he 
came, he appeared heartily to like his new surround- 
ings — his rooms at Trinity, the collegiate life, the 
informal conversation, his lectures, his pupils, and 
the University library. Quietly but keenly obser- 
vant of men and things, he was very soon completely 
at home in the University, with which, as he related 
in his inaugural lecture, he had wished to connect 
himself forty years before. 

" In hall, in combination-room, and where men 
smoked and talked, he took an unobtrusive but 
effective part in conversation. His utterances, 
always terse and epigrammatic, were sometimes a 
little oracular : ' I suppose, Lord Acton,' said some 
one interrogatively, ' that So-and-so's book is a very 
good one ? ' ' Yes,' was the reply ; ' perhaps five per 
cent, less good than the public thinks it.' But a 
casual question not seldom drew from him an acute 
comment, an interesting reminiscence, or a significant 
fact. ' When was London in the greatest danger ? ' 
asked some one rather vaguely. ' In 1803,' was the 
immediate answer, 'when Fulton proposed to put 
the French army across the channel in steamboats, 
and Napoleon rejected the scheme.' 

" Others will tell you of his influence upon the 
historical studies of the University, of his help given 
freely to teachers and to learners, and of his judg- 
ment and skill in planning and distributing the 
sections and the subsections of the ' Modern His- 
tory,' which he did not live to edit. He was an 
active member of the committee which recommends 



82 INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR 

books for purchase by the University Library. But, 
in general, he shunned the routine of business. 
Even at the Library Syndicate, though he followed 
the proceedings attentively, he seldom or never took 
part in discussion or voted. Indeed, I thought that 
I noticed in him a paradox which extended beyond 
the limits of academic affairs. On the one hand, he 
was observant of everything, and he made up his 
mind about everything. On the other hand, except 
where supreme principles — Truth, Right, Tolera- 
tion, Freedom — were in question, he was cautious 
and reserved in the expression of opinion, and he 
always preferred to leave action to others. 

" Like other specialists, I found that my own 
study had not escaped his attention. He had a 
good general knowledge of the work done by mod- 
ern students of ancient philosophy, and his criticisms 
of them showed a sound, clear, and independent 
judgment. One or two trifling incidents seemed 
to me significant. The first time that he came to 
my rooms, looking quickly along a bookshelf, he 
soliloquised : ' I never knew that Bonitz had trans- 
lated the metaphysics! It surprised me, not that 
Acton did not know of the posthumous publication 
of this work, but that he expected to remember all 
that a specialist in Greek philosophy had written. 
On another occasion he was talking of German pro- 
fessors — first of professors of history, afterwards of 
others. He could tell us about all: he had heard 
many. At last it occurred to me to ask him about 
a forgotten scholar who had written a treatise about 
Socrates. The book was in no way important, but 



INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR 83 

it had given me a very agreeable impression of the 
writer's personality. I found that Acton had known 
the man, had attended his lectures, and could testify 
to the personal attraction which I had surmised. 

" When Acton died, writers of obituary notices 
appeared to regard him as one who, while he 
devoured books and accumulated facts, passed no 
judgments, framed no generalisations, and cherished 
no enthusiasms ; and I fancied that Sir Mount- 
stuart Grant Duff, in his very interesting letter to 
the Spectator, unconsciously encouraged this mis- 
apprehension. Nothing could well be further from 
the truth. To me it seemed that Acton never read 
of an action without appraising its significance and 
morality, never learnt a fact without fitting it into 
its environment, and never studied a life or a period 
without considering its effect upon the progress of 
humanity. 

" His judgments were severe but just. Neither 
glamour of reputation nor splendour of achievement 
blinded him to moral iniquity. He had a wealth of 
righteous indignation which upon occasion blazed 
out fiercely. ' Are you aware,' he once asked, ' that 
Borromeo was a party to a scheme of assassinations ? ' 
' But,' said some one, ' must we not make allowance 
for the morality of the time?' 'I make no allow- 
ance for that sort of thing,' was the emphatic answer; 
and the contrast with the measured and sedate tones 
of Acton's ordinary utterance made the explosion 
all the more impressive. 

" This righteous indignation carried with it a 
corresponding appreciation of anything good. I 



84 INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR 

remember well how he told me the supplement to 
the old story of the Copenhagen signal — that 
Parker made it with the expressed intention of 
relieving Nelson from responsibility, but in the con- 
fident expectation that, if skill and daring could do 
anything, Nelson would disobey. Acton could 
admire Parker's magnanimity as well as Nelson's 
genius. 

" It would be presumption in me to say anything 
about Acton's historical attainments; but I may 
note one or two peculiarities which I noticed in his 
attitude to the study. History, as he conceived it, 
included in its scope all forms of human activity ; so 
that scholars whom others would describe as theo- 
logians or jurists were in his eyes great depart- 
mental historians. This, I thought, was the 
explanation of his miscellaneous reading; for he 
was always methodical, never desultory. 

" But despite this width of view, he did not grudge 
the expenditure of time and trouble upon details. 
On the contrary, he would not only ransack archives, 
but also interrogate those who had witnessed, or 
been concerned in, great events. Of course he 
minutely scrutinised and scrupulously weighed the 
testimony thus obtained ; but when once he was 
satisfied of the accuracy of his information, he was 
prepared to use it for the interpretation and explana- 
tion of documentary evidence. 

" Acton could never have written anything which 
was not literature of a high order — dignified, inci- 
sive, vigorous ; and yet history was to him, not 
literature, but political philosophy ; not an interest- 



INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR 85 

ing narrative, but a scientific study of cause and 
effect. He had, however, no faith in political fore- 
casts about anything more than the immediate 
future. 

" It is impossible not to regret that Acton has 
not made his mark in literature as the writer of a 
great book, or in politics as a great statesman ; but 
he preferred to know, and the men who know as 
Acton knew are few. The world is the richer 
whilst they are with us, and the poorer when they 
go. Acton will not be forgotten at Cambridge." 

A brilliant and penetrating judgment of Lord 
Acton's services to Cambridge was paid in the Cam- 
bridge Review a few months after his death (Octo- 
ber 16, 1902) by Professor Maitland, who had been 
associated with him in preparing the " Cambridge 
History" as a Syndic of the Press. Himself one of 
the most learned men in the University, Mr. Mait- 
land was amazed by the extent of Lord Acton's 
range. " If," he writes, with a laudable wish to 
avoid extravagance, " we recall the giants of a past 
time, their wondrous memories, their encyclopaedic 
knowledge, we must remember also how much that 
Lord Acton knew was for them practically unknow- 
able." His reading was not for amusement. His 
daily consumption of a German octavo meant mas- 
tery of the book, with copious notes in a neat hand- 
writing on slips of paper, which were always, like 
his books, at the disposal of his pupils. He "toiled," 
as Professor Maitland says, " in the archives, hunt- 
ing the little fact that makes the difference." He 



86 INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR 

was " deeply convinced that the history of religion 
lies near the heart of all history," while it was his 
fate to be suspected by Catholics as a Liberal, and 
by Liberals as a Catholic. " This man," I again 
quote the Professor, "who has been called a miser 
was in truth a very spendthrift of his hard-earned 
treasure, and ready to give away in half-an-hour the 
substance of an unwritten book." Some writers, 
especially bad writers, do not shine in conversation, 
because they are keeping their best things for the 
public. Lord Acton would pour out to a sympa- 
thetic listener the most recondite history, or, on a 
different occasion, the spiciest gossip, if that were 
the commodity in demand. So far as knowledge 
and power went, and if time had served, Professor 
Maitland is convinced that Lord Acton could himself 
have written all the twelve volumes of the " Cam- 
bridge History." The " History" is his best memo- 
rial. Another memorial is the famous Aldenham 
Library, bought by Mr. Carnegie, and presented 
by Mr. Morley to the University of Cambridge. 

The article which I have ventured to associate 
with the name of Professor Maitland is signed 
"F. W. M.," a signature which the writer would 
not have adopted if he had desired to preserve his 
anonymity. The authorship of a letter signed 
" H. J.," and written from Cambridge, which ap- 
peared almost simultaneously in the Daily News, 
is not more difficult to identify. " H. J.'s " words 
are a memorable and eloquent protest against 
the ignorant fancy that Lord Acton spent his 
life in the mere accumulation of learning. The 



INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR 87 

exact opposite, as he says, was the truth. Lord 
Acton " was no mere Dryasdust : he was a watch- 
ful observer of men and affairs. If he studied 
the detail of history, it was in order that he might 
the better elicit its significance and its teaching. 
He was slow to express an opinion ; but in his 
judgments there was never any indecision. In the 
advocacy of intellectual freedom he was eager: in 
the denunciation of tyranny and persecution he was 
at a white heat. He was a man who loved to prove 
all things, and to hold fast that which is good." 
Every one who knew Lord Acton, or at least every 
one who could appreciate him, must recognise the 
justice and fidelity of this eloquent tribute. But it 
was at Cambridge that he put forth to the utmost 
the whole power of his mind. It was at Cambridge 
that he showed most clearly how his whole life had 
been devoted to the cause of freedom and of truth. 
It was there that he planned the " Cambridge His- 
tory " in twelve volumes, of which two, the first and 
the seventh, have already appeared. Unhappily 
they were posthumous. Lord Acton did not live 
to see them, nor to write the Introduction. At the 
age of sixty-seven he was suddenly struck down by 
paralysis, and, after lingering for more than a year, 
died at Tegernsee on the 19th of June 1902. He 
was "buried by the side of the daughter whose 
deathbed he had comforted with the words, ' Be 
glad, my child, you will soon be with Jesus 
Christ.'" 1 Such through life and in death was 
his simple faith. 

1 Edinburgh Review, 404, p. 534. 



88 INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR 

The lustre which Lord Acton's name reflected 
upon Cambridge was not felt more deeply, or 
more sincerely, than the higher standard of learn- 
ing which he introduced into a learned profes- 
soriate. He was the one man in England, if not 
in Europe, who could have brought with him from 
the outside an equal knowledge of books and of 
the world. Cambridge saw his weak side quickly 
enough. The keen-witted men who enjoyed and 
appreciated his talk, or watched him listening 
with an attention that nothing escaped, could 
understand why Dollinger predicted that if he 
did not write a great book before he was forty 
he would never write one at all. As a matter of 
fact he did not write a book of any kind, small or 
great. He did not even, as he once thought of 
doing, republish his Essays. His contemplated 
Life of Dbllinger dwindled into an article of forty 
pages on Bollinger's Historical Work for the Eng- 
lish Historical Review. 

But the article, which appeared in October 1890, 
shows Lord Acton at his best. His affectionate 
reverence for his great master gives a colour and 
animation to his style, which it often lacked. This 
is by far the most readable of all his essays, and 
by no means the least instructive. Dollinger was 
in some respects like himself. "Everybody felt 
that he knew too much to write," and the best 
part of his erudition was given to his pupils at 
Munich. In tracing the course of Dollinger's 
studies, and of his mental development, Lord 
Acton wrote the best, because the most charac- 



INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR 89 

teristic, biography of the Old Catholic leader. 
Besides the interest of the subject itself, Lord 
Acton contrived to bring into this wonderful 
summary a number of judgments on other things 
and persons as vivid as they are acute. Freeman 
rather horrified him by preferring printed books 
to manuscripts as material for history. But then 
he "mixed his colours with brains." Lord Acton 
was inclined to think Stahl, the philosophical and 
Conservative statesman of Prussia, "the greatest 
man born of a Jewish mother since Titus." Dol- 
linger, however, considered that this was unjust to 
Disraeli, and most Englishmen will probably agree 
with him in opinion. 

Whether Lord Acton ought to have left the 
Church of Rome when Dollinger was excommuni- 
cated, or when the Vatican decrees were pronounced, 
is a question which it would not become a Protes- 
tant to ask, much less to answer. He did not shrink 
from the risk of speaking out, and it was not his 
fault that he escaped. No earthly reward or peril 
would have induced him to say what he did not 
think, or to profess what he did not believe. The 
truths which all Christians hold in common, and 
the moral principles to which Sophocles ascribes 
an unknown antiquity, guided him in history as in 
life. His emphatic statement that he had never 
felt any doubt about any Roman doctrine was 
made some years before 1870, and the secession 
of the Old Catholics, which failed for want of an 
Episcopate. In 1878, Pio Nono died, and was suc- 
ceeded by a more liberal Pontiff. Manning lost 



90 INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR 

his influence at Rome, Newman was made a cardi- 
nal, and the Broad Churchmen in the Roman com- 
munion were tolerated, if not encouraged. Even 
Lord Acton's old enemy, Manning, turned from 
theological controversy to movements of social 
philanthropy, to Irish politics, in which he agreed 
with Acton, and to good works among the poor. 
The strictest of Roman Catholics were not sorry to 
think that the most learned Prelates of the Angli- 
can Church were less learned than a Catholic lay- 
man. The more a man knew, the larger was his 
idea of Lord Acton's knowledge. But for the years 
between 1895 and 1900 that knowledge would have 
been comparatively wasted. It would have profited 
only a few readers here and there beyond the circle 
of Lord Acton's friends. At Cambridge, the Pro- 
fessor of History was in perpetual contact with 
fresh minds eager to know, and to transmit what 
they acquired. He did not altogether understand 
the Greek mind, for he told Mr. Gladstone that it 
was unscientific. But he had this much in common 
with Socrates, the father of science, that he required 
the clash of dialectic to bring out his full force. 
When ignorant people laid down the law, Lord 
Acton smiled, and, it is to be feared, enjoyed him- 
self in an almost sinful degree. When scholars and 
philosophers conversed with him, they found him 
often indeed more inclined to listen than to talk, 
but always appreciative, suggestive, and awakening. 
To genuine students he was a mine of information, 
and would give what was asked tenfold. Nobody 
ever entrapped him into a path which for good 



INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR 



91 



reasons he was disposed to avoid. Attempt to 
draw him into controversy, and he became cautious, 
subtle, enigmatic. But every one who came to him, 
as his Cambridge pupils came, for assistance and 
instruction, went away not merely satisfied and 
enlightened, but moved and touched by the pro- 
fundity of his knowledge, the generosity of his 
temper, and the humility of his soul. 



#• 




K S 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 



You were threatened with a long letter from me, 1879 
about people at Paris, but I could not finish it, . . . o c "*~™ 
and so I lost the only days on which Paris informa- 
tion could be of any use. After a week of care, 
varied by pleasant visits from Lacaita, F. Leveson, 
and H. Cowper, we started, and rested at Milan and 
Genoa, and yet were nearly the first arrivals here. 
We expect to have the Granvilles for neighbours at 
Cannes, as well as Westminsters. 

Let me first of all transcribe a passage from my 
unsent letter : " If you see Madame Waddington you 
will find her a very pleasant specimen of American 
womanhood. Her husband wants the qualities that 
charm and win at first, and I suppose he will not 
hold his own long. He has no dash, no entrain, no 
personal ascendency, like the men who succeed in 
France; but there is not a deeper scholar, or a 
more sincere and straightforward Christian, in the 
country." I see from your letter that the unfavour- 
able part of my remarks came true more than the 
praise. Something may be due to awkwardness 
connected with the Ferry 1 Bill. The interview with 
Scherer consoles me. He is a man of the first order 

1 Jules Ferry, see p. 99. 
93 



94 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1879 as far as that can be without showy gifts. But he 
is guarded, cold, unsympathising, and the intellec- 
tual crisis by which he came to repudiate the Chris- 
tian faith was so conspicuous that he is embarrassed 
with people who are notable for religious conviction. 

I wanted to say so much about Mignet, who was 
celebrated before your father went up to college ; of 
St. Hilaire, the best Grecian and earliest Republican 
*■ in France; of Dufaure and Simon, the leaders of 
the Left Centre, who hold the fate of the Ministry 
in their hands ; of Laboulaye, the political oracle of 
Waddington, who solves every problem by Ameri- 
can principles ; of Vielcastel, the most sensible and 
experienced of Conservatives, and the only surviving 
Doctrinaire ; of Broglie, 1 who has all but ruined the 
Republic, in order to expiate his former ecclesiastical 
Liberalism ; of Pasquier, who possesses the good 
qualities in which Broglie is deficient; of Taine, 
who has almost the solidity of Scherer, and more 
than his brilliancy. But it is all too late now. 

You describe the Professor 2 most justly. Serenity 
has grown on him with years, although they were 
years of conflict and of the great grief that men who 
do not live for themselves can feel for the cause they 
have lived for. Strength, too, though in less degree, 
by reason of a vice which besets another great man. 
From a sense of dignity and of charity he refuses 
to see all the evil there is in men ; and in order 
that his judgments may be always charitable, gener- 
ous, and leaning to the safer side, he is not always 

1 Due de Broglie, statesman and historian (1821-1901). 

2 Dr. Dollinger. 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 95 

exact in definitions or rigorous in applying princi- 1879 
pies. He looks for the root of differences in specu- 
lative systems, in defect of knowledge, in everything 
but moral causes, and if you had remained with 
us longer you would have found out that this is a 
matter on which I am divided from him by a gulf 
almost too wide for sympathy. 

Boutney I never saw. But he is a sound and use- 
ful man, who makes it his business to spread political 
knowledge among those classes that govern France. 
A cousin of ours lectures, under his auspices, to half- 
educated Parisians. 

"Le Gendre de M. Poirier" at the Francais is one 
of the greatest treats imaginable. Your stay at 
Paris must have been full of new impressions and 
experiences, even in its levity. 

And now, after a short interval of Victor Hugo at 
Keble, I fancy you will start for the Midlothian 
campaign. You were very wrong to suppress that 
second sheet of your letter, and I hope you will make 
up for it by letting me know how things go on, and 
bearing in mind that one learns nothing at Mentone, 
except the bare outside of public events. 

There is so much to ask and say that I have not 1880 
the courage to begin. I am afraid you will forgive 
the length neither of my letter nor of my silence, 
and will be as much bored by the silver of the one 
as by the golden of the other. But when all the 
world has its rendezvous in Harley Street, admit me, 
perdu in the crowd. 

In this out-of-the-way region we have been kept 



Mentone 
March fj 



96 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1880 up to the mark in home politics by pleasant visits 
from Freddy Leveson — a robust Gladstonian — 
Cowper Temple, who told me more than I knew 
about the world of spirits; Goschen, who spent 
several days with us, and whose footsteps are very 
visible on the road that leads away from the Liberal 
party, through Brookes's, to a moderado coalition ; 
Reay, . . . fresh from Midlothian ; Mallet, 1 doctri- 
naire, disputatious and desponding, but abounding 
in criticism of the policy which he represents. 
Lord Blachford passed, but I did not see him. 
Nothing carried me back to England more than 
the two Italians 2 whom you overheard at Venice, 
who were here when I was very ill, but who took 
me over the whole ground traversed since 1842. 
Bonghi's essays 3 are appearing successively, and 
they are meant as a lesson for Italians, and break up 
the career in a way which loses the thread of con- 
tinuity and the law of its progress and the wealth of 
the unity therein. But he is exceedingly intelligent 
and sympathetic, and I hope that he will recast his 
materials when he puts them together in a volume. 
When he asked me: Why is Mr. Gladstone so 
much attached to the Church and so much against 
establishments ? Why is he so generous towards 
R. Catholics and so hard on the Pope ? Why is 
not Ireland reconciled ? Why is not England won ? 
— you will believe that I found my voice again. I 
don't think the book will ever suit our public, but I 
should like it to appear in French. 

1 Sir Louis. 2 Minghetti and Bonghi. 3 On Mr. Gladstone. 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 97 

A certain letter of mine acknowledging the gift 1880 
of the Lancashire Canvassing Speeches was written 
between the election and the summons to Windsor, 
in November 1868. 1 If it leads you to look at the 
Bristol electioneering speeches mentioned in it, you 
will be disappointed ; for they will seem to you poor 
in comparison. In reality, they are an epoch in con- 
stitutional history. Burke there laid down, for ever, 
the law of the relations between members and con- 
stituencies, which is the innermost barrier against 
the reign of democratic force. Charles Sumner once 
said to me : " Mr. Burke legislated from those hust- 
ings." When you met John Morley at Glasgow he 
had just written a very good life of Burke. It is 
impossible not to be struck by the many points of 
resemblance between Burke and your father — the 
only two men of that stature in our political history 
— - but I have no idea whether they would have been 
friends or bitter enemies. 

Madame de Stael is the author of that saying 
about liberty, whom I commemorate in terms studi- 
ously excluding rivalry with George Eliot. 

Do you remember a question as to the number 
of words in Shakespeare and in Milton? There 
is all about it in Brother Mark's 2 "Life of Mil- 
ton," which is in the same series as Morley's 
" Burke." 

And another, as to the title of the " Imitation " ? 
I find that it is not the title given by the author 

1 Mr. Gladstone was an unsuccessful candidate for South-West Lan- 
cashire in 1868. He was at the same time elected for Greenwich. 

2 The Reverend Mark Pattison, then Rector of Lincoln. 



98 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

l88o — so that Milman's very plausible remark falls 
through. 

Plenty of muffs have written in the Edinbro\ but 
I am not one of them. 

You see so many interesting and eminent men 
that you can spare a miss sometimes. But I am 
sorry for that silent evening near Lowell. The 
easy brightness of his mind surpasses all I remem- 
ber in America. I sat next to him at a dinner at 
Boston twenty-seven years ago, and spoke of the 
burying, by Constantine, of the Palladium in a 
vault at Constantinople. Longfellow would not 
believe my story. I quoted a passage. "Yes," said 
Lowell, "but the passage we want is the passage 
into the vault." Somebody questioned whether the 
statue of Cromwell would stand among the sover- 
eigns at Westminster. " At least," said he, " among 
the half-crowns." 

I have never met him since. But if I had been 
fortunate enough to drop in that evening at Ripon's, 
I rather think I should have liked to sit next to him. 
You would have seen the difference between a live 
dog and a dead lion. 

Scherer ought to be much obliged to me for the 
conversation and for the readers I procured him. 
He is, I think, one of the three best living writers 
in France — deeper and more subtle than Taine, 
and infinitely better versed in political questions than 
Renan. If you see that arch person you will find 
his conversation, easy and tripping as it is, very 
inferior to his writings. There are volumes of 
essays which I am sure you would read with pleas- 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 99 

ure. And he has a special bone to pick with the 1880 
author of " A History of Liberty." 1 

I sent for Seeley, 2 and read him with improve- 
ment, with much pleasure, and with more indigna- 
tion. It is hard in a few crowded lines to explain 
my meaning on a question so fundamental. The 
great object, in trying to understand history, politi- 
cal, religious, literary or scientific, is to get behind 
men and to grasp ideas. Ideas have a radiation 
and development, an ancestry and posterity of their 
own, in which men play the part of godfathers and 
godmothers more than that of legitimate parents. 
We understand the work and place of Pascal, or 
Newton, or Montesquieu, or Adam Smith, when 
we have measured the gap between the state of 
astronomy, of political economy, &c, before they 
came and after they were gone. And the progress 
of the science is of more use to us than the idiosyn- 
crasy of the man. Let me try to explain myself by 
an example of to-day. Here is Ferry's article 7« 3 
One way of looking at it is to reckon up the pas- 
sions, the follies, the vengeance of the republicans, 
to admire or deplore the victory of the Conservatives, 
to wonder at the Democrats. But beyond the wishes 
of the Democrats there are the doctrines of Democ- 
racy, doctrines which push things towards certain 
consequences without help from local or temporary 
or accidental motives. There is a state built on 

1 The book on which Lord Acton was then at work, and for which 
he amassed vast hoards of material. 

2 " The Expansion of England." 

3 For the expulsion of the Jesuits and other unauthorised congrega- 
tions from French schools. 



LofC. 



ioo LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1880 democratic principles, and a society built, largely, 
on anti-democratic elements, clergy and aristocracy. 
Those elements of society must needs react upon 
the state ; that is, try to get political power and use 
it to qualify the Democracy of the Constitution. 
And the state power must needs try to react on 
society, to protect itself against the hostile elements. 
This is a law of Nature, and the vividness and force 
with which we trace the motion of history depends 
on the degree to which we look beyond persons and 
fix our gaze on things. — This is dreadfully didactic 
prose. But this is my quarrel with Seeley. He dis- 
cerns no Whiggism, but only Whigs. And he 
wonders at the mistakes of the Whigs when he 
ought to be following up the growth and modifica- 
tions of their doctrine, and its influence on the 
Church, on Toleration, on European politics, on 
the English monarchy, the Colonies, finance, local 
government, justice, Scotland, and Ireland. So you 
may read in Alison of the profligacy of Mirabeau, 
the ferocity of Marat, the weakness of Louis, the 
sombre fanaticism of Robespierre. But what we 
want to know is why the old world that had lasted 
so long went to ruin, how the doctrine of equality 
sprang into omnipotence, how it changed the princi- 
ples of administration, justice, international law, taxa- 
tion, representation, property, and religion. Seeley 
is as sick as I am of the picturesque scenery of the 
historians of sense, but he does not like to go 
straight at the impersonal forces which rule the 
world, such as predestination, equality, divine right, 
secularism, Congregationalism, nationality, and what- 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 101 

ever other ruling ideas have grouped and propelled 1880 
associations of men. And my great complaint is 
that he so much dislikes the intriguers of 1688 that 
he does not recognise the doctrine of 1688, which is 
one of the greatest forces, one of the three or four 
greatest forces, that have contributed to construct 
our civilisation, and make 1880 so unlike 1680. 
See H. of L., 1 p. 50,000. All which things make 
me more zealous, eager, anxious about the coming 
election than you who are in the midst of it, mind- 
ful of the blessing of repose and credulous of Seeley. 
Therefore I read with delight the address to Mid- 
lothian — more even than the speech in Marylebone 
— and am daily refreshed by Lowe, John Morley, 
even Rogers, 2 and fancy how happy the inquisitors 
were, who put a stop to the people they disagreed 
with ! But I can quite feel your sensation in 
watching all this. 

If we win, then there will be no rest in this life foi 
Mr. Gladstone. The victory will be his, and his only. 
And so will the responsibility be. Then will come 
the late harvest and the gathering in of its heavy 
sheaves. And then there will be not much Hawar- 
den for you. 

I heartily wish your brothers success — even the 
riotous one 3 — especially the riotous one. I will 
come and wish him joy. If we are beaten, I shall be 

1 " History of Liberty." 

2 Thorold Rogers, sometime M.P. for Southwark, and Professor of 
Political Economy at Oxford. 

3 Herbert Gladstone. 



102 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1880 ashamed to let you see my grief. And as it is, I am 
ashamed to tell you how much I should like to hear 
from you, because you will suspect that I only want 
a supplement to the Times, or a later edition of the 
Echo. But the next few weeks are going to be a 
great turning point in the history of our lifetime, and 
I believe you know how to be generous. Be gener- 
ous before you are just. Do not temper mercy with 
justice. 



Cannes There is nothing to regret. Your brother has held 

Apni 10 a conS pi CUO us place 1 in the most wonderful election 
contest of this century. He has held it in a manner 
which will never be forgotten in his lifetime, and 
which will do as much for him as victory ; and the 
picture of the young untried son bursting into sud- 
den popularity and turning men's thoughts from the 
absorbing exploits of his father adds an affecting do- 
mestic feature to that great biography. That meet- 
ing at Hawarden, after such a revolution and such a 
growth, is a thing I cannot think of without emotion. 
So I cannot offer you anything sincere, except 
congratulation. We know now, indeed, that the 
British Democracy is neither Liberal nor Conserva- 
tive in its permanent convictions, and therefore the 
party triumph is not as altogether satisfactory and 
secure as it should be. But the individual triumph, 
the homage rendered to a single name, could not be 
greater; and there could not be a fuller atonement 
for the desertion of 1874, than a success so personal 

1 He stood for Middlesex. 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 103 

as to convey dictatorial authority, apart from party 1880 
merits and combinations. 

Your idea has this advantage, that one must strike 
when the iron is hot, and it is now at white heat, and 
our legislative measures, even though they involve 
an early dissolution, ought to be begun soon. What 
I should fear most would be that, content with the 
intense reality of power, Mr. Gladstone should repeat 
the unhappy declarations of five years since in a way 
that would commit him for all future time ; absolute 
abdication would be a misfortune all round, and the 
Conservative reaction would soon set in. But if an 
eventual return to power is not absolutely excluded, 
if no word is said of what might happen under cer- 
tain contingencies, then we should still feel that we 
have an invincible reserve force, that, when our first 
line is broken, we can proclaim the Jehad and unfurl 
the green flag of the Prophet. For the patchwork 
settlement of 1875 depends on the life of a man who 
is several years older than your father, 1 who is a duke, 
and who has a deplorable habit of falling asleep early 
in the afternoon. But I only express this premature 
fear in view of circumstances which I am sure every 
influence in the country, except, perhaps, the influ- 
ence of Windsor, will be strained to avert. 

Your description of Lowe's generous and feeling 
sympathy is really touching. How little I thought, 
fourteen years ago, 2 when he was the hardest hitter 
your father had to meet, and when your father said he 

1 The late Duke of Devonshire, who lived till 1891. 

2 In 1866 Mr. Gladstone and Mr. Lowe took opposite sides on the 
question of Parliamentary Reform. 



104 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1880 might well shrink from crossing swords with such 
a man, that he would close his active life as your 
brother's sponsor before vast constituencies, or that 
we should come to think of him listening with tears 
in his eyes to your brother's speeches, and muttering 
the words you tell. 

Please tell Herbert that I have followed his pro- 
ceedings as carefully as one could at a distance, that 
I don't think much of his defeat, that, in short, I go 
halves with Lowe. 1 

I see that your sister made her way into the fray. 
I trust all the worry and toil was not too much for 
Mrs. Gladstone. 

We are ending the season here, not as far out of 
the world as you would suppose; for I just saw 
your neighbour Westminster, and here are Argyll, 
Cardwell, and Goldsmid. 

If Disraeli waits to meet Parliament, and to fall 
in the daylight, I may hope to have an opportunity 
of expressing to you myself all my sense of the 
meaning of the victory, and my want of sympathy 
for you in your defeat. 2 

Paris I have been in Paris only a few hours, and have 

ay 23 seen nobody yet but Broglie, Gavard, and Laugel. 

I must see Scherer and talk to him about your visit 

here in the autumn. I have not been here for two 

years, and many of my friends are growing so old 

1 Mr. Lowe, on hearing one of Mr. Herbert Gladstone's speeches 
during the Middlesex election, declared that in the pure gift of elo- 
quence, there was nothing to choose between him and his father. 

2 In Middlesex. 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 105 

that I don't like putting off my visit to them. So I 1880 
must keep those who have not that defect for a 
happier time. 

I shall be delighted to inaugurate breakfasting in Paris 
Downing Street on Thursday; and I should very May ' '* 
much like to drop in the night before, as you are to 
be there. But it seems very indiscreet; and if I 
dine with Lord Granville, I shall not be able to get 
away until very late, when you will be gone to bed. 
Tegernsee late hours cannot be kept in London. I 
will hope for the best, and keep all I have to say, 
partly for next week, partly for some more propi- 
tious season. 

Although ink was not invented to express our wurzburg 
real feelings, I improve my first stoppage between Ma y*3 
two trains to thank you for three such delightful 
days in London. It was a shame to take up so 
much of your busy time, and to persecute you with 
the serpentine wisdom. I did not wish to turn into 
bitterness the sweetest thing on earth, but I fancied 
that there are things good to be observed in your 
great position which nobody will tell you if you do 
not hear them from the most wicked of your friends. 
Hayward, indeed, who walked home with me the 
other night, might claim that title and dispute my 
prerogative ; and I thought he would be useful to 
you in many ways until I found out that he is only 
solicitous about getting invitations for . 

Since you detected . . . lending herself to a 
humble intrigue, you can never be surprised at the 
revelations of disappointment and self-seeking, and 



106 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1880 must not believe that the smiling faces you see 
express unmixed loyalty and satisfaction. So I 
want you to be vigilant not to resent, but to pursue 
the work of disarming resentment, and not easily to 
persuade yourself that it is done. 

To begin at the top. Here is Lowe, positively 
wounded at the letter offering him a peerage instead 
of power, and wounded by the very thing which 
showed Mr. Gladstone's anxiety not to give him 
pain, by the absence of any reason given for being 
unable to offer him office. For one so often finds 
that acts specially showing delicacy and consider- 
ateness, little supererogatory works of kindness, are 
taken unkindly. Now that is just a state of mind 
you can improve away by an initiative of civility, 
bearing in mind that what Lowe says to me, his 
wife delivers from the house-tops. 

The animosity of the defeated party is natural, 
manifest, and invincible. They have offered Green- 
wood ;£ 1 10,000 for his newspaper, besides general 
offers of indefinite sums — enough to start it four or 
five times over. But the danger is not there, but at 
home ; danger of disintegration and drifting. Both 
in church questions, and, ultimately, in land ques- 
tions, your father is at variance with the great bulk 
of colleagues and followers — Chamberlain and 
Argyll in one Cabinet is an anomaly sure to tell in 
time, especially with Argyll discontented. So do 
not undervalue, or neglect, or waste, the social 
influence which centres in your hands. 

Bismarck is so angry with Miinster, that I hope 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 107 

he will transplant him; meanwhile it ought to be 1880 
remembered that he, M., not only scouted the idea 
of Tory defeat, but wrote most disparagingly of Mr. 
Gladstone's influence and position. 

Hayward will tell you what I learn from other 
sources, that Chenery really wishes to bring the 
Times round. Mr. Gladstone dislikes thinking of 
those things, and allowed Delane to slip from him. 
Don't leave the whole thing to be done at No. 18. 1 

I hope, towards the end of the session, you will 
consult MacColl about the Bavarian mystery. It 
would be nice if Leeds does not require its member 
just then. Above all things keep a very regular 
diary. You will be so glad afterwards, unless you 
have some distant correspondent, and make your 
letters to him, or her, do for a regular diary, which 
is also a good plan. 

I received your letter last night on my return Tegermee 
from Italy, and read the enclosure with interest. ? uneI 
There are two things to be said in its defence. It 
is true that Hartington has, of late, shown higher 
qualities than the world attributed to him, and so 
far his adoring kinsfolk may consider their higher 
estimate justified. His whole attitude during the 
election was creditable, and his conduct towards 
Mr. Gladstone was correct. 

Then, there is a grain of truth in the notion that 
the force that creates, and sustains in a crisis, is not 
quite the same that is wanted in time of prose to 
continue and to preserve ; or in other words, that 

1 1.e., by Lord Granville. 



108 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1880 creative power makes a great consumption of party 
resources, and, if Burke gave up to party what was 
meant for mankind, it is better still to give up to 
mankind what some people mean to use for party. 
This is only a half truth, because party is not only, 
not so much, a group of men as a set of ideas and 
ideal aims; so that I do not admit Goldsmith's 
antithesis. 1 But taking party in the practical and 
popular sense, of an instrument for holding office, 
people are uneasily conscious that Mr. Gladstone 
will sacrifice it to loftier purpose sooner than they 
would like. Nothing is more untrue than the 
famous saying of an ancient historian, that power is 
retained by the same arts by which it is acquired ; 
untrue at least for men, though truer in the case of 
nations. 

But don't you see, pervading the letter and guid- 
ing the pen, the great intellectual and moral defect 
of the present day ? I mean the habit of dwelling 
on appearances, not on realities, of preferring the 
report to the bullet, and the echo to the report. To 
spend and lose a majority in some great cause, to 
be abused and ridiculed and calumniated, seems to 
the writer a misfortune so great that it is worth 
while to haul down one's flag rather than incur the 
risk of it. This is the power of journalism, of salons 
and club life, which teaches people to depend on 
popularity and success and not on the guide within, 
to act not from knowledge, but from opinion, and 
to be led by opinion of others rather than by know- 
ledge which is their own. Not only , nearly 

1 See p. 146, note 2. 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 109 

everybody yields up his conscience, his practical ii 
judgment, into the keeping of others. 

I do not accuse Hartington, but it is clear from 

the words of and -, that there was a scheme 

to get Mr. Gladstone out of the way. To expect him 
to take the first step was to expect him to resign. 
It is so easy to do a dirty thing with self-satisfaction 
when it consists in abstaining from action. The 
one letter is only the plausible, affectionate ampli- 
fication of the other's impertinence, with a saving 
clause, on the first page, inserted from dictation, 
when the grievous indiscretion had been com- 
mitted. . . . 

It does not matter seriously ; but it serves to cor- 
roborate that grave speech of mine : trust nobody. 
I don't want you to think ill of people, or even to 
suspect them until the evidence is strong. It is not 
their virtue I question, but their attachment, and 
consequently their discretion. And I question their 
attachment because I doubt their thorough agree- 
ment with Mr. Gladstone. I don't say they are 
perfidious ; but they are bound by an alliance they 
do not mean to last for ever. 

• • • • ■ • • 

I do not cite Northcote and Carnarvon in con- 
firmation. Soon after his resignation Carnarvon 
certainly wished to come over. At a solemn dinner 
inaugurating him as President of the Society of 
Antiquaries, he asked the secretaries to get me to 
propose his health. In a preceding speech he spoke 
of himself as a true Conservative at heart ; and so 



no LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1880 I took those words up, congratulating him upon 
them in an Antiquarian, and eventually in a Liberal 
sense, indicating that they meant no more than we 
mean by constitutional, that there were no Pyrenees 
between us, that we entirely agreed with each other. 
We became close friends from that hour, and he 
made it very clear that he was pleased to be so in- 
terpreted. But he got little encouragement after- 
wards ; and I fancied he honestly took this line — 
there are intelligent High Church men who dread, 
in the looming future, an alliance between demo- 
cratic nonconformity and the predestined chief of 
the stern and unbending Tories, on the basis of 
anti-Erastianism. They say that the late election, 
swamping the vulgar Whig, has made those two 
allies stronger than ever, making each depend upon 
the other. They would stand a Liberal Govern- 
ment made up of Spencers and Cowpers, but they 
say that the demagogues have been strong enough 
to force their way in, and will make their power 
felt. So that property and the Church are in danger. 
I am ashamed to say that I thought this was Car- 
narvon's line. But Liddon knows what he says. 
Be sure that I also know what I say when I 
assure you that the victoria pilgrimage will be a 
help to your father, and that Lady R.'s coachman 
will grease wheels more important than her own. 
Do go on, this summer at least, and see whether it 
is not true. Lady R. is, moreover, a friend of Lady 
Blennerhassett, and will sympathise with your feel- 
ings. 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON in 

I should not have supported our side in its attack 1880 
on Sir Bartle Frere. It was not merely a question 
of empire, but of lives he would be unable to pro- 
tect, against a savage army 1 far stronger than the 
whole armed population of Natal. I fancy that the 
analogy, or apparent analogy, with the Cabul policy, 
which he had so much promoted, turned Liberal 
opinion against him. But Frere is a strong, an 
able, and a plausible man. It is true that his 
strength is akin to obstinacy and self-will, that he 
is rather too plausible, and that he will gain his 
ends by crooked paths when he has tried the 
straight in vain. He is a dangerous agent, but, I 
should think, a useful adviser. Indians are not 
generally a healthy element in the body politic, and 
he has the constant vice of Indians, belief in force. 
But he has a breadth of mind that is rare among 
them; and I have known people who hated him, 
because he is so good. I do not suggest that that 
is the motive of the three Anabaptists who ply you 
with advice from which I disagree. 

Thanks, a thousand thanks, for all the kindness 
of your letter. I enjoyed the Sherbrooke-Airlie- 
Trevelyan dinner very much, and shall envy Lady 
R. every Monday to come. . . . 

My letter was posted with the one to you, though Tegemsu 
written, I think, the night before, so that it must Juneg 
have been stopped and opened by some postmaster 
whom the direction attracted, and who, like your- 
self, exaggerated its importance. There are truths 

1 The Zulu. 



112 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1880 so prosaic, so dense, so dull, that one can hardly- 
state them without suggesting the idea of something 
subtler or more interesting beyond. Of course, to 
one who spends his time in watching and trying to 
understand the progress of political life and thought, 
no public event could equal the late progress from 
Dalmeny to Downing Street, and no prouder thing 
could happen than to be able to serve Mr. Glad- 
stone's policy. Indeed, if I was not lured by his 
genius, his persistent friendship, and a curious 
sympathy in many deep questions, I should be, now, 
by qualities never so apparent as in the last few 
days, by the power of grasping principle in one 
hand and policy in the other, without clashing, 
which was shown in the opium speech, and just 
before, in the speech on the liability of employers. 
I don't know whether I could ever have been of 
use abroad, in other circumstances, if my nearest 
relation was not Foreign Secretary, 1 for there is 
only one place for which I could pretend to any 
special fitness. But as to trying to qualify as a 
candidate for anything at home, you would soon be 
satisfied that it is impossible, if I had a good oppor- 
tunity of talking — if we climb a mountain, a very 
high mountain, or cross a broad and stormy lake 
some day. 2 But I think I must remind you of the 
old lady at Carlisle in Forty- Five, who shut herself 
up in terror of the Highlanders, and, not being pur- 
sued, grew impatient, and cried out: "When are 
they going to begin ? " 

I am a little disturbed at the highly ingenious 

1 Lord Granville. 2 An allusion to expeditions at Tegernsee. 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 113 

and easy solution of the great party 1 question. It 1880 
is dangerous, at any time, to multiply sources of 
weakness. Now there is a source of future weak- 
ness in the idea of power assumed only for a term 
limited and denned. A Parliament near its end 
becomes helpless and unable to act. When the 
period fixed, or supposed to be fixed, is approaching, 
power will slip away. Disappointed people, men 
impatient of having to wait, hungry, jealous, reluc- 
tant supporters, will gravitate in other directions, 
will promote rivalry, will speed the parting chief, will 
magnify the rising sun. By having only Free and 
Easies, you establish a festive Centre elsewhere, and 
the world, revolving in an improper orbit, may lose 
its way. There has been, in this direction, a slight 
waste of capital. . . . 

• •••••• 

Your card came just after my letter was posted, juneg 
I shall be at Munich on Friday, and have written to 
Hallam Tennyson, poste restante ; but I hope to 
waylay them at the station. It will be pleasant 
to pilot the great man through Munich, or on the 
road to Achensthal, and I will do my best. . . . 

I hope you will not quarrel with John Morley, for 
he seems to be making the Pall Mall the best 
Liberal paper in England. But he has so many 
points of antagonism to Mr. Gladstone that I am 
afraid. He is a sceptic ; his studies are all French, 
eighteenth century ; in political economy he is a 
bald Cobdenite, and will do scant justice to the 
political aspects of the French treaty ; he is a friend 

1 Evening parties in Downing Street. 



ii4 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1880 of Lytton's, and, I suspect, of the peccant Strachey ; 1 
he has the obstinacy of a very honest mind. But I 
perceive that I am getting to be a bore. . . . 

Tegemsee The Tennysons came and went, I am sorry to 
June 21 sa y^ prematurely. They spent two days with us, 
and would have gone by Achensee to Innsbruck, 
but the rain sent them back to Munich, where they 
took the train for Italy. You will be surprised to 
learn that the Poet made a favourable impression on 
my ladies and children. He was not only a gracious 
Poet, but he told us lots of good stories, read aloud 
without pressure, walked repeatedly with M., and 
seemed interested in the books he carried to his 
room. Lady Acton took him to Kreuth and round 
the lake, and liked him well. Yet our ways were 
very strange to him, and he must have felt that he 
stood on the far verge of civilisation, without the 
enjoyments proper to savage life. Even I was 
tamed at last. There was a shell to crack, but I got 
at the kernel, chiefly at night, when everybody was 
in bed. His want of reality, his habit of walking on 
the clouds, the airiness of his metaphysics, the in- 
definiteness of his knowledge, his neglect of transi- 
tions, the looseness of his political reasonings — all 
this made up an alarming cheval de frise. 

But then there was a gladness — not quickness — 
in taking a joke or story, a comic impatience of the 
external criticism of Taine and others found here, 
coupled with a simple dignity when reading ill— 

1 Sir John Strachey had seriously underestimated the cost of the 
Afghan War. 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 115 

natured attacks, a grave groping for religious cer- 1880 
tainty, and a generosity in the treatment of rivals — 
of Browning and Swinburne, though not of Taylor 
— that helped me through. He was not quite well, 
in consequence of the damp and of the mountain 
fare. 

I write for news to your hotel at Venice, the 
weather having been against the Dolomites. 

Hallam is a much better and clearer politician 
than his father, and the only time we differed he 
was the truer Blue. If I add that I discovered why 
he refused a baronetcy, I suspect it is no more than 
you know very well already. 

I have made Liddon's acquaintance at last. Noth- 
ing but Tennyson prevented me from seeing more 
of him, for I found in him all that I love Oxford for, 
and only a very little of what I dislike in it. 



. . . Let me suppress truths only when they are 
pleasant, and confess that I have a doubt about the 
scene with O'Donnell. Mr. Gladstone brought 
against him an engine as obsolete as the Veto, 1 not 
for the sake of France, for he could have his say in 
another way, but for a disorderly act which was not 
the worst on record. It seemed a stretch of severity 
when the claim to have been severely treated is the 
most telling feather in an Irish cap, when the fact of 

1 Mr. O'Donnell, an Irish member, moved the adjournment of the 
House for the purpose of attacking the new French Ambassador, M. 
Challemel Lacour. Mr. Gladstone moved that he be not heard, and 
the debate on this motion occupied the whole sitting. 



u6 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1880 having been silenced in a new way inflates the lungs, 
if it does not strengthen the hands, of a Home 
Ruler. But perhaps I am so fresh from the history 
of the Plebs and their Tribunes that I am not quite 
sound as to the management of Obstructives. 

Challemel Lacour is the scholar, the philosopher, 
the ascetic of that republican school of which Gam- 
betta is the Tribune and the platform hero. He is 
their Minister in reserve ; and Albert Gate is so 
manifestly the stepping-stone to power, he is so con- 
spicuous a leader of untried policy, that the civility 
of his reception will be taken in France as a tribute 
to his party in a way there has been no example of. 
He is probably the most interesting specimen in 
existence of the school from which Robespierre 
would have chosen his colleagues. I should very, 
very much like to know how he impresses you ; and 
there is so much more I should very much like to 
know, that I must learn to be less obtrusive. 

... If the Bavarian Fawcett 1 opened one of 
my letters, I suspect it was because they have not! 
got over their perplexity at the Queen informing the 
King of Bavaria of the Rammingen misalliance. 
Only, when I ask indiscreet questions do not sus- 
pect me of asking for indiscreet answers. 

I think Reay deserves a seat in the H. of L. (in 
the vulgar sense of those mystic letters), 2 because 
he would perhaps not recognise your portrait of a£ 
barren, contradictory, envious, dissolving cynic. 
But the cap fits only too well, and I must acknow- 

1 Then Postmaster-General. 

2 House of Lords, not " History of Liberty." 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 117 

ledge the fidelity of the likeness, and the art of Len- 1880 
bach in the deeper shades. Do you remember, now, 
my prophecy on the Piazzetta, when I rejoiced that 
you would not stay long enough to learn to hate me ? 
In worldly quarters you will probably meet with 
the objection to Reay that he is more instructive 
than amusing; but I hardly know a more genuine 
good fellow. Do you know Morier, who is in town ? 
Another man much objected to, but exceedingly able, 
resolute, and energetic. . . . 

I hope you will see Blennerhassett, and think him 
worthy of his wife, who is still at Munich. Thank 
you for the good news you give from high places, 
and for the greasy wheels. Your sister's ears ought 
to have tingled at the good things said of her here 
last week. 

... I hope you have not many correspondents Tegemsee 
as unmerciful as I am, or as much inclined to forget J uly J 
that you are living the most interesting of lives, by 
the intensest blaze of light in all the world. Only 
let me just thank you for your letter of yesterday 
and for your kindness in asking me to future enter- 
tainments. My prospects are too uncertain for me 
to accept. I must come only if I am wanted, and 
we shall hardly have any close divisions of impor- 
tance until the end of July. Your invitations have 
doubled in value since Reay, whose particular 
group of friends is so well known as to betray him 
to the worst of guessers, has supplied you with a 
key — a false key — to my Venetian Mystery. 



n8 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1880 Don't get tired too easily of London and its 
duties, for they are very real. They will not get on 
without you. And it is of no use coming over, if 
you are away on all kinds of larks. 

We must wait till Sunday before the result of 
this evening's debate reaches Tegernsee. There is 
not any doubt the motion 1 is right; but I can 
imagine a much stronger statement of objections 
than the righteous indignation of the Tories 
produced. 

Let us hope that John Morley was not discour- 
aged by encountering Sweet Ccesars ghost on 
Tuesday. The Pall Mall is getting a little per- 
sonal, and too highly coloured in reports of fact. 
Do you know my intimate friend Lathbury, politi- 
cal editor of the Economist? A Weekly is easier 
to conduct than a Daily ; but his articles seem to 
me excellent in tone, judgment, and impartiality. 
He wrote much formerly in the Daily News and 
the Pall Mall, and I was negotiating with Delane 
to put him on the Times when Bagehot's death 
gave him the other opening. His wife was 
Bonamy Price's daughter. You never saw a man 
more frank, cheery, and well conditioned. 

I suppose Hayward has brought — — . Let him 
bring Chenery, that he may be useful as well as 
ornamental. It is not a matter of indifference that, 
when other journalists come, he should be left to 

1 That any member claiming the right to affirm instead of taking an 
oath should be allowed to do so, subject to any liability imposed on 
him by statute. Under this motion Mr. Bradlaugh took his seat pro- 
visionally for Northampton. 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 119 

stay away. Only don't let his sins be cast in his 1880 
teeth. 

I am afraid you will not take to Morier ; but he 
is the greatest force in our diplomatic service, in 
spite of his discomfiture at Lisbon. He would be 
the very man to meet Challemel Lacour, who will 
be an offence to so many. 

Liddon repeated at Munich the story of Carnar- 
von. He also gave the excuse which I suggested 
— that Chamberlain, Fawcett, Dilke alarmed him. 
But it is not a pretty story as he tells it, considering 
the way Carnarvon turned against the new Ministry. 



I am heartily glad to hear what you say of Mr. Tegemsee 
Gladstone's health and strength and spirits, and of ^ uly I0 
the nook behind Hampstead, 1 so much better than 
the dull air of the Thames Valley. There must be 
so much to harass him besides what appears, and 
what he can wind up and swamp in dazzling speech. 
Rosebery's anxiety is shared by many thorough 
Liberals, and it is not, perhaps, unfortunate that 
the perils of the position have made themselves felt 
at once, that the full warning comes in time, and 
the remedy can be taken early. 

I wonder whether, for a reason you know as well 
as I do, a thing we all perceive remains a mystery 
to the person most concerned to know it. The 
Liberal party is held together, not by forces within, 
but by a force above it. It consists, like the being 
that declined a chair, of two wings and a head. 
1 Littleberries, rented by Lord Aberdeen. 



120 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1880 Without Mr. Gladstone's ascendency and the lustre 
of his fame, Harcourt, Argyll, and Bright would 
soon offend every group into insubordination and 
incohesion. The jealousy between the old Liberals, 
who are losing ground, and the usurping Radicals, 
and all other familiar elements of discontent, cannot 
be restrained by Parliamentary management alone. 
There remains a great sphere for direct personal 
influence. The men Mr. Gladstone used to look 
up to, Peel and Aberdeen, had not much of this, 
and I fancy he takes from them the belief that it is 
unnecessary or undignified. He has been so long 
without holding the threads of party : it is so natu- 
ral, in one who writes and speaks so much, to 
suspect those who misunderstand him of doing it 
voluntarily : it is so natural to him to underrate the 
effect of personal contact, that he may think that 
the sole legitimate method of mastering men is 
Parliamentary speaking, or writings addressed to 
mankind. But it is worth anything that people 
should know and see more of him, in society if 
possible. First, because people are flattered. Next, 
because they are awed. Last, because they are 
conciliated, and so disciplined. And this applies to 
three sorts especially — members, diplomatists, and 
journalists. I am sure all that public policy can do 
to strengthen the Government will be done. But I 
note an unhappy impatience of those inferior arts 
my earthy spirit relies on. 

I see how willing the Times is to be taken in 
hand, in spite of Walter. Sir Henry Maine, like 
Stephen, used to write in the Pall Mall. I don't 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 121 

know whether he has joined Morley. Maine's 1880 
nature is to exercise power, and to find good rea- 
sons for adopted policy. Augustus or Napoleon 
would have made him Prime Minister. He has no 
strong sympathies, and is not at heart a Liberal, for 
he believes that Manchesterism will lose India. He 
considers also that the party, especially Lowe, has 
treated him less well than Salisbury. He is in- 
tensely nervous and sensitive. After that, I may 
say that I esteem him, with Mr. Gladstone, New- 
man, and Paget, the finest intellect in England. 
For some reason he is one of the men whom Lord 
Granville's arts do not reach. I wish you would 
see him. ... 

It would be very kind of you indeed to ask the 
Lathburys some Tuesday or Tuesdays. I say that 
because he is so much my friend, but he is also an 
eminently useful and trustworthy man. His wife 
wrote much in the Saturday — I don't remember the 
article you speak of. When I am a little in doubt 
about anything I consult Lathbury, who steadies 
and encourages me. When I feel very sure of some 
conclusion I go to Maine, who always knocks it to 
pieces. He is much the more instructive of the 
two. The other is more pleasant. 

With Maine, above him indeed at the India 
Office, is Sir Louis Mallet, a thoughtful economist, 
a sincere, almost passionate Liberal, but under Cob- 
den's influence, one of those sincere Liberals least 
attracted by your father. He is very sound beyond 
the Indus, and I wish you sometimes saw him ; but 
I ought not, perhaps, to say it, for I half suspect the 



122 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1880 Prime Minister has some ancient reason for object- 
ing to him. 

The breakfast with the archbishop, 1 the philoso- 
pher, 2 the Frenchman, 3 and even with G does 

not suggest hilarity. What you will do for sketches 
of character after the Reays leave England, I can- 
not imagine. 



I don't know how to thank you for thinking of 
me at such a moment. 4 It was hard to bear being 
away just then, and you must have gone through a 
dreadful time. Even with the scraps of information 
that reach one here, I have been able to realise 
much of it. Almost the first consoling thing was 
the report of your escapade with Wolverton. 

Every line of your letter is a monument of your 
goodness, even your disinclination to go into details. 
But I am afraid you must have been terribly knocked 
up — so soon, too, after your own illness, of which I 
will not speak now, but which, indeed, I was very 
sorry to hear of. And I do trust that Mrs. Glad- 
stone was enabled to go through it all without 
excessive alarm or fatigue. She will not need words 
to be assured of all my sympathy. I am persuaded 
that your greatest pleasure, just now, comes from the 
expressive conduct of adversaries, not from the vain 
words of friends. 

Our defeat in the Lords 5 opens a wide vista of 

1 Trench. 2 Herbert Spencer. 3 M. Tachard. 

4 Mr. Gladstone had just then a short, but serious illness. 

5 On the Compensation for Disturbance Bill, intended to protect the 
Irish tenants from eviction during the winter. 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 123 

difficulty and trouble — partly because it injures the 1880 
Government, but not much, and will probably in- 
crease the ascendency of the P.M.; particularly 
because of the H. of Lords itself. Nobody will 
ever believe that such a majority was due to honest 
and disinterested motives. People will say, and 
will say truly, that an assembly which is moved by 
selfish and sordid motives, when there is a question 
of preventing ruin and starvation, is not only an 
injury to the poor, but a disgrace to the community, 
and there is no way out of it. Small majorities may 
give way or abstain; but after so determined a 
demonstration, repentance will be suicidal. And 
the one instance in modern times where the Lords 
have proved stronger than the Commons, because 
postponement here was prohibition, is a question of 
helping the poor who suffer, at a slight sacrifice and 
slighter danger to people immensely rich. 

We are only beginning with questions of this 
kind. Did you hear the speech at the end of May 
in which Mr. Gladstone spoke of that class which is 
so numerous that it is virtually the entire nation ? 
Graver words were never spoken in Parliament, for 
the entire land is virtually in the hands of another 
class. The considerations which this contrast, this 
contradiction, suggests, have a mighty future before 
them, a future damaging to my boy's prospect of 
ever sitting on a red leather bench. 

I am sorry we were not 52. 1 It would have been 
impressive, like the Doctrinaires of whom it was 
said : " lis sont quatre ; mais quand ils veulent 

1 The majority against the Bill was 230, of whom 51 were Liberals. 



124 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1880 imposer par le nombre, ils pretendent etre cinq." 
Indeed, for all the reasons which Argyll repudiates, 
justifying my prophecy about him in the spirit, if 
not to the letter, there has been no measure for 
which I should be so anxious to vote. I wrote to 
Lord G. 1 to send me timely warning, as there was 
no trouble I would not take. 

Having been to a doctor, without any idea that I 
was seriously out of order, I was sent here suddenly, 
and am forbidden for reasons I must acknowledge, 
to move for some weeks to come. It could not have 
happened at a worse moment for me. 

I was sorry for Frere, and should probably have 
allowed his daughter to come round me. . . . 

It is too kind of you to remember, after all that 
has passed over you and the nation, details of for- 
mer letters. Unless there has been a change lately, 
there are two editors of the Economist, one for 
money matters and the other for politics. Maine 
will be proud and happy, and ought to be much 
obliged to me for supplying a topic for so pleasant 
a conversation. I wonder whether he showed you 
the luminous side of his mind, whether you saw why 
he always disagrees with me, and why some people 
are more afraid than fond of him. 

Whatever passes at the end of the Session, I do 
hope that a season of rest is included in our friend 
Dr. A. Clark's prescriptions. It might give me 
some remote chance of seeing you again. 

That Dutch Interior is charming, and I hope you 

1 Granville. 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 125 

enjoyed the circle of widowers as much as I did your 1880 
graphic account of them. It is delightful to think 
of the repose after the storm has been weathered so 
well. Argyll practising his next speech in the soli- 
tude of night, 's diplomatic deafness and yet more 

artful slumber, his brother with a hook placidly 
fixed in Bright's aggressive nose, the refined Ameri- 
can 1 offended by the rigidity of the Democrat, the 
group of listening Senators, the harmless youth, the 
envious beauty — and then the great historic back- 
ground and the one overshadowing figure — there 
is not a page in Mme. de Remusat approaching it. 
Do you write like this to other people? Do you 
write at least six pages of diary every night ? Please 
do ; and let me read it now and then. And remem- 
ber that one touch of ill-nature makes the whole 
world kin. If you are really going to be left at 
Hawarden, you ought to shut your door, shut your 
eyes, recall all that you have seen and heard during 
the last six months, and write it carefully down. 
You have such an opportunity and such a power. 
I am not like the Roman : 2 I envy almost as much 
as I admire. 

You make me happy by allowing me to conclude 
that I gave no offence by what I wrote of our 
exalted House. I don't mean that your uneasiness 
was quite unreasonable. When a Bill 3 gets knocked 
about in Committee, even when an artful Minister 
means it to be knocked about, it can never go up to 
the Lords harmonious, consistent, and the genuine 
expression of a policy. There are not two sides to 

1 Lowell. 2 Non equidem invideo ; miror magis. 3 See p. 122, note 5. 



126 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1880 every question, but there is always an opening, in 
such cases, for sincere criticism. The way out of 
that is to pass the second reading, and to correct in 
Committee what was done wrong in Committee. 
What I mean in this case is that the Bill involved 
a principle of infinite force and value, which the 
Ministry probably veiled to their own eyes, and 
which the Lords were right to resist as a private 
association, which they are not ; wrong to resist as 
a disinterested national institution, which is their 
claim to exist. 

It is impossible to exaggerate the depth of aver- 
sion the Bill has evoked. You must have heard 
enough of it. One man has spent two days here 
for the purpose of telling me how wrong it was. 
Another writes to me that he has paired for the 
session, feeling that Government will be obliged 
to those who help them when they are hopelessly 
wrong, although the help consists in pairing and 
going to Vichy. These are idle men, representative 
of thousands. 

It reminds me of the great landowner, Bedford, 
who reminds me of Arthur, 1 who reminds me of 
Maine. I suppose it was a refuge in Piccadilly that 
revealed the secret to me. Arthur's one fault is a 
delight in secrets. Although Maine is unfitted to 
be P.M. (under any but a despotic monarch), nobody 
has so large a conception of all questions relating 
to the tenure of land. I dare say he has been 
asked to say what he knows about Ireland. What 
pure reason and boundless knowledge can do, with- 

1 Lord Arthur Russell. 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 127 

out sympathy or throb, Maine can do better than 1880 
any man in England. 

I am sorry to think of Lowell's sun sinking behind 
your horizon. At first sight one always fancies that 
those who question the certainty of history sap the cer- 
tainty of religion, or are the victims of those who do, 
and I fancy I should have had a word (with corners) to 
throw at him. The Remusat volumes are one of 
my landmarks in judging Napoleon. It is, of all 
accounts by competent people, the most injurious 
to his memory, as Segur's are the most favourable. 
Until I read them, I thought the fixed intention to 
put Enghien to death, the charge of murder, not 
proven. If the authority of these recollections 
breaks down, I must invent for myself a new 
Napoleon. After allowing for the fact that they 
were written, or re-written, years later, like the 
Diary of John Adams, the Memoirs of S. Simon, 
the History of Burnet, of Clarendon, the Annals of 
Tacitus, the Nine Muses of Herodotus, the Eight 
Books of Thucydides, which are the most conspicu- 
ous sources of all history, and for the suspicion that 
there was a great secret she not only could not tell, 
but wrote in order to obliterate, and after giving 
whatever weight it deserves to the little joke that 
calls it : " Souvenirs d'une femme de chambre ren- 
voyee," I am so persuaded that the book is authen- 
tic and true, that I should have liked to hear the 
argument. But this is true, history does not stand 
or fall with historians. From the thirteenth cen- 
tury we rely much more on letters than on histories 
written for the public. I need not add that the his- 



128 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1880 tory of our Lord which we find in the Epistles is 
one most valuable testimony in favour of the Gos- 
pels. So that even if Lowell can damage the 
reports in this book, we can restore the certainty 
of history by the aid of letters, of documents and of 
those facts in which independent witnesses agree. 

Is it not heroic of your sister renouncing a life 
like your own for the toil of Newnham ? I wish 
her success and happiness in her pilgrimage most 
sincerely. By-the-bye your other sister is the real 
pilgrim, and I wish I had known in time to warn 
my belongings of her movements. 

My time here is up, and I go home to-morrow. 
As a proper P.M.'s daughter you ought to say you 
hope I was really ill, to justify fifty-one. ... It is 
absurd to come all the way to England and not to 
see you ; so I shall come only if I am really wanted. 
I write at once to discover whether and when. Your 
telegram is a great disappointment. I wonder where 
they will go. Cannes is the place I recommend, but 
not till October. If I am not summoned home from 
Tegernsee for Hares or Burials, 1 I look forward to 
Ammergau, and wish you were coming. 

Tegemsee I ought to write no more. I ought to hide my 
Sept. 21 use i ess hand altogether. There was a week during 
which I looked forward to a summons home, a sum- 
mons that never came ; and after having persistently 

1 The reference is to the Ground Game Bill, which enabled tenants 
to shoot hares and rabbits on their farms ; and to the Burials Bill, 
which permitted the interment of Dissenters in parish churchyards 
with their own" religious rites. 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 129 

applied for it, I thought that it was better not to 1880 
make the offer of my vote more urgent than the 
demand for it. I know how much I have missed 
and lost. Circumstances over which I have no 
control would probably have arrested my maritime 
enterprise at Gravesend. 1 But how pleasant Holm- 
bury would have been ! And then there was, and 
is, so much to talk to you about, so much that 
evaporates in writing and will not keep, so much 
that will. As there can hardly be an autumn ses- 
sion after prorogation in September, I must wait 
for the end of January. Meanwhile I hope you 
will cultivate the notion of Tegernsee. Such a 
break with the great world would do Mr. Gladstone 
good, and I fancy we could make you like the place 
once more. Let me have that hope before me. 



My children went to Ammergau and came back 
not deeply moved, but strongly impressed. I let 
them go without me from a sort of dread many 
people must have felt, not because of the chief 
actor, for a pious, simple-minded peasant's concep- 
tion of the two natures is probably not more inade- 
quate than my own, but what we do gradually 
realise in meditating the Passion is the character 
and experience of the disciples, the effect of that 
companionship, the utter human weakness that 
survived in the midst of the intense feelings it 
must have awakened in them. Those are contrasts 
that can be expressed, and are apparently too subtle 

1 Mr. Gladstone's voyage in the Grantitlly Castle. 



130 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1880 for the performers at Ammergau. I am told that, 
on the whole, the audience remained cold. 

The answer to my telegram was signed in a way 
that led me to doubt whether it came from you. I 
trust it was sent by your brother, and that Mr. Glad- 
stone was not molested by my inquiries on the top 
of so many more. It is beginning at the wrong 
end to read David Copperfield first, but he is worth 
anything to busy men, because his fun is so hearty 
and so easy, and he rouses the emotions by such 
direct and simple methods. I am ashamed to think 
how much more often I return to Dickens than to 
George Eliot. 

Do some of the brothers or secretaries make a 
point of reading the Temps ? Of all that is written 
against the Ministry and its general policy, the 
Temps articles seem to me the most serious and 
suggestive, and at Marienbad I went through a 
course of Austrian newspapers, which are very 
hostile, and better written than our Tory organs, 
but not near so good as the Temps. I am afraid it 
is my friend Scherer. Not being a Frenchman, his 
patriotism is peculiarly lively. Don't call Chenery 
my friend. I have never seen him, and only know 
that he is making a mess of the Times. But my 
reasons were those you know well, and they will 
hold good next year. 

You are quite right in all your corrections. 

is a very good fellow. His only artifice is 



his discretion. His mind is accustomed to travel 
along roads straight, and wide, and beaten, so that 
it accumulates conventional truths and borrowed 






LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 131 

convictions, but he is as well meaning and as sin- 
cere as a man can well be who is not on the watch 
to root up prejudices. His son is threatened with 
Toryism as with the gout. I don't know which is 
worse. ... I talk nonsense at times, because sense 
is monotonous. It won't do to shrink from hard 
speeches and judgments when they are necessary. 
But it is horrible to make them when one is not 
compelled. Do believe me when I say that is what 
makes you delightful, and a certain generous, unself- 
ish, courageous credulity is part of it. Commynes 
says : " It is no shame to be suspicious, but only to 
be deceived." That is a contemporary of Machia- 
velli. Two centuries later you will find in Tele- 
maque these words : " Celui qui craint avec exces 
d'etre trompe merite de l'etre, et Test presque tou- 
jours grossierement." That is the progress of 200 
years. Don't you think you see the distance between 
Bismarck and your father ? 

You have had an excellent idea about those letters. 
If you go on and arrange them, it will be very 
precious to him some idle day, if that should ever 
come, and to you all. The inner reality of history 
is so unlike the back of the cards, and it takes so 
long to get at it, which does not prevent us from 
disbelieving what is current as history, but makes 
us wish to sift it, and dig through mud to solid 
foundations. I conclude that all political corre- 
spondence has been set in order regularly, other- 
wise that ought to be thought of too. 

The bit of scandal suspected in the unwritten part 



132 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1880 of the Remusat Memoirs, was supposed to have be^ 
longed to the time of the camp at Boulogne, of which 
she gives very full accounts. But it is not necessary 
to believe all those things. There would be no pure 
reputations. I suspend my belief even about Fer- 
sen. . . . They cannot publish Talleyrand's Me- 
moirs because he tells so many tales of that kind, 
and people still living would be surprised to find out 
who they are. 

I was flattered to know that I had supplied topics 
of conversation and even of dispute at Holmbury. 
I should like always to be accused by Lord Gran- 
ville, defended by your father, and sentenced by you. 
But don't always associate me with bottles of physic, 
even in dreams. 

From something you wrote I gather that Mr. Glad- 
stone did not altogether disagree with Forster's senti- 
ments; I am sure I did not; yet it seemed to me 
very hazardous to make such a speech in Mr. Glad- 
stone's absence, suggesting wide differences in the 
Ministry, rousing expectations which will go on 
growing through the autumn, making the Lords 
more angry than repentant, using terms so vague 
that they can be almost honestly misrepresented, 
and a great deal more. Home Rule will make great 
capital out of the events that happened after your 
father fell ill. 

J. McCarthy's two last volumes 1 are not equal 
to the first, but you will be interested in reading 
them. But here is post-time, and I cannot say one- 
half. 

1 " History of Our Own Times." 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 133 

It is not easy to add to the panegyric pronounced 1880 
on St. Hilaire by a too zealous friend in Friday's r s lf t r ™ ee 
Pall Mall. That gratifying description is not quite 
satisfactory. The writer affirms that St. Hilaire is 
an Orientalist of the first rank, and a Greek scholar 
unsurpassed in France. He knows Greek thor- 
oughly for working purposes, but not exquisitely as 
a scholar ; and he has done little, on the whole, for 
his idol Aristotle in the way of consulting the manu- 
scripts and improving the unsettled text. And 
although he has studied Eastern religions deeply, 
I do not believe that he is a master of Eastern 
languages. Nor does he live on a third floor in 
that good street the Rue d'Astorg. He does not 
live there at all, but three miles away, in a charming 
little bachelor's house at Passy. His rooms, formerly 
in the Rue d'Astorg, were " au fond de la cour au 
premier," and his maid-servant is not (and was not) 
elderly, but young, though ill-favoured. And it is 
not fair to say, with obvious purpose, that he never 
deserts the Thiers dinner-table except for the Ger- 
mans. I made his acquaintance at a dinner at Lord 
Lyons's. 

From all which I conclude that the letter is a 
vehement endeavour to recommend the new Minis- 
ter abroad. Last summer St. Hilaire gave me the 
three big volumes of his Aristotelian Metaphysics, 
and, when I remonstrated, said, " Vous me le rendrez 
un jour, d'une autre facon." That is what I am do- 
ing at this moment, when I tell you how very highly 
I rate the man. 

St. Hilaire is quite at the top of scholars and 



134 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1880 philosophers of the second class. Not a discoverer, 
not an originator, not even clever in the sense com- 
mon with Frenchmen, not eloquent at all, not vivid 
or pointed in phrase, sufficient in knowledge, but not 
abounding, sound, but not supple, accustomed to 
heavy work in the darkness, unused to effect, to in- 
fluence, or to applause, unsympathetic and a little 
isolated, but high-minded, devoted to principle, will- 
ing, even enthusiastic, to sacrifice himself, his com- 
fort, his life, his reputation, to public duty or scientific 
truth. He is not vain, so much as didactic ; there 
is a method about him that is a little severe, a solidity 
that wants relief. His character has been shaped by 
long devotion to a cause that was hopeless, by which 
there was nothing to gain except the joy of being a 
pioneer of ideas assured of distant triumph. So that 
he is disinterested, consistent, patient, tolerant, con- 
vinced, and brave. Indeed, courage, contempt of 
death, is the one thing I have heard him speak of 
with something like display. The Republican party, 
to which he belonged even under Charles X., and of 
which he is the patriarch, had a good deal of dirty 
work to wash off ; and I have observed that he was 
not communicative when, in an interest which it 
were superfluous to mention, I have tried to learn 
the secret history of Republicanism under the mon- 
archy. There are few of them who never touched 
pitch. But he and Littre are distinct from most 
others by their hard work and their voluntary 
poverty. 

This makes him peculiarly hateful to opponents. 
A legitimate Marquis said to me : " C'est un honnete 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 135 

homme, qui nous coupera la tete de la maniere la plus 
honnete du monde." People who admit that he is 
unstained by the gross vices of his party, speak of 
him as an enthusiast, and a dupe, and no doubt 
expect him to acquiesce, like Pilate, in all manner 
of wrong that he will not initiate. 

I do not feel that there is no truth at all in these 
imputations. I have found that he thinks accurately, 
that he is even penetrating, but not impressive. He 
told me the speech he had prepared against the 
Jesuits, which, I believe, he never delivered. The 
argument was : The conscience of man is his most 
divine possession. Jesuits give up conscience to 
authority, therefore they forfeit the rights of men, 
which are the rights of conscience, and have no 
claim to toleration. I won't undertake to refute 
this argument ; but it is preeminently unparlia- 
mentary, and smells of the oil he burns all day. 
St. Hilairedoes not believe in the Christian religion, 
but he has Descartes's philosophic belief in God, 
and the elevated morality of the Stoics. Not the 
least of his merits is that having spent his life on 
Aristotle, he told me that he thought more highly of 
Plato; and in his Introduction to the Ethics he 
shows the weakness of his hero's attack on Platon- 
ism. In saying this he overcame a strong tempta- 
tion. Scientifically his great achievement is the 
transposition of the several books of the Politics — 
which were in hopeless confusion before him. All 
Germany accepts the arrangement he proposed, and 
as the work is the ablest production of antiquity, 
this is no small matter. As a moderate, unam- 



136 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1880 bitious, totally dispassionate Republican, he belongs 
to the Thiers Centre. He thinks Jules Simon the 
most eminent public man in France, so that he is 
scarcely to the Left of Freycinet. He despises and 
detests Laboulaye, the oracle of the Centre Gauche. 
I often heard, but am not sure, that St. Hilaire 
turned the scale, and made Thiers adopt, and en- 
force, Republicanism. 

Forgive me for writing so soon and so con- 
fusedly. 

Tegemsee Don't think me as prolific as , but I must begin 

October 3 a g am> as j h ac [ t send off my letter with nothing 

but an answer to your question in it. Lord Gran- 
ville's visit must have been more busy than pleasant ; 
and their dinner topic is provoking because one 
always hears that the best men were those one 
could not have known. Remembering Macaulay, 
Circourt, and Remusat, I do not care to believe that 
Cousin or Radowitz was far superior to them in 
talk. But then I, again, look back to the people 
I knew with regret, and think my contemporaries 
less amusing. 

If ever I see Hawarden again, I hope it will 
not be for a night and half a day, but I do not know 
when that will be. Let us fix our thoughts on 
Tegernsee, and pave the way to rest and distraction 
here next summer. 

Without claiming the discernment of Tennyson, 
I hold fast to what I said. There may be people 
you dislike for one or two reasons. You have no 
tenderness for Dizzy ; and I am not sure you cared 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 137 

much for either of our gondola companions. There 1880 
are one or two unpardonable crimes in your code, 
and one or two chasms that even Dante's mercy 
cannot bridge. But you never show it, and ill- 
nature must show itself in speech. I have no doubt 
at all that the relish with which you held up the 
mirror of my vices the other day had more of sorrow 
than of anger, and only a scrap of malice. It must 
have been Chenery, especially if it was a reminis- 
cence of Holmbury. Freddy Leveson has a touch- 
ing fidelity to monotonous friendships. This one was 
laid down, I think, on Holland House foundations. 

If I wrapped my poet in too thick a hide of mystery 
(observe the joke — own cousin to the Bite of 
Ecuador), it was because I fancied you knew that 
you have no business to be the P.M.'s daughter, 
and would never have been, but that Lady Walde- 
grave, lured by the sweep of the Thames at Nune- 
ham, neglected, or failed, to hook that brilliant 
Young Englander, Monckton Milnes, poet and 
statesman. But I know several men, some you 
never heard of, who, looking back along the road 
where they took the wrong turning, say to them- 
selves, or at least to their friends : " Well, well ; but 
for this or that I should be P.M. now ! " 

I have been prevented from finishing by interrup- 
tions, one of which was the brief appearance of the 
Freddy Cavendishes, spoiled by their uncomfortable 
haste to get away. I suppose what makes her so 
nice is, partly her affection for her relations. There 
certainly was no arrilre pensee in her way of speak- 
ing of your father. 



138 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1880 You cannot too much cultivate his taste for 
Dickens. Beware of "Little Dorrit," "Oliver 
Twist," and " Dombey." In " Chuzzlewit" the Eng- 
lish scenes are often amusing, but there is a story 
about Pecksniff that may repel him. 

Please do not destroy the ease and serenity and 
confidence of my letters, which are chatted and 
whispered, more than written, by wanting to show 
them — even to Morley, in whom I have great re- 
liance. I should write quite differently, as you 
rightly say, if I was not writing to the most chosen 
of correspondents. To Mr. Gladstone I already 
wrote what was due to my friendship with St. 
Hilaire, especially as I fancied that Downing Street 
would be strongly prejudiced against him. Do not 
turn yourself from an end into a means — one does 
not justify the other. . . . 

Cannes I have been afraid to write. The delicious and 
Dec. 14 mos t spiritual gift * was sent to me here, whither we 
came early, only to find ourselves in sore trouble, for 
a child had died of diphtheria in our villa just before 
we arrived. We had to settle in half-furnished 
apartments, where Mrs. Flower' 2 found us, bringing 
a flavour of Hawarden. What has stood in my 
way is this ; Some time ago, recalling a foolish 
speech of mine, a year old, and spoken under the 
spell of a great charm, you asked me to repeat it on 
paper. I hesitated long, and whilst I hesitated, the 
little volume came, and made it churlish to decline 

1 Shakespeare's Sonnets, pocket edition. 2 Now Lady Battersea. 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 139 

any wish of yours. 1 resolved that the best sign of 
the sincerity of my gratitude would be to do what 
you had asked, and to be much more foolish than 
ever by putting on impertinent record the evanes- 
cent conversation of Tegernsee. But I have been 
so fearful of giving you more annoyance than pleas- 
ure, whether by the seeming of flattery or of cen- 
sure, that I have allowed myself to slip into a much 
more grievous fault. Will you understand me and 
try to forgive me ? I can never thank you enough 
for all the friendship of which that beautiful volume 
is the treasured symbol. There is so much of your 
thought in the beauty of it, and so much in the 
choice of it — more than you could guess. A dear 
friend of mine, now dead, 1 devoted himself to the 
study of the Sonnets, as the real key to Shake- 
speare, being the form of his own ideas, not what he 
gave to his characters. We discussed them much 
together in long evenings at Aldenham, and he 
wrote a book about them, which he followed up 
with a volume called the " School of Shakespeare " ; 
and the two together are the best introduction to 
him that I know. . . . Swinburne himself has 
recognised their merit ; so that a lost part of my life 
came back to me with your gift. All which is to 
say that, whereas all that comes from you is very 
precious to me, if anything could add to its price it 
was the happy chance that guided your hand. 

Beyond that I must thank you very heartily for 

1 Richard Simpson (1820- 1876), author of an Introduction to the 
Philosophy of Shakespeare's Sonnets (1868) and The School of Shake- 
speare (1872). 



140 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1880 the confidence you showed me in sending me that 
early letter. 1 It fills a large blank in my conception 
and understanding of his life, for it shows — for the 
first time to me — how large a part of what we know 
and contemplate with wonder is an original gift, and 
was born with him, and how little, on the other hand, 
has been added by the training of life. There are 
things which experience has restrained, and checked 
in their exuberance; but there are almost all the 
germs of the power that rules the movements of 
half a world. When I read that skit of the revered 
philosopher, 2 it almost seemed to me as if I had 
sometimes doubted his greatness, and I think you 
were very good-natured. He is one of the few 
Englishmen of genius ; one of the most perfect 
masters of our language that ever wrote ; and when 
one has said that, and said it as forcibly as can be, 
one comes to a deplorable catalogue of evil qualities 
with which I shall not darken my pages. It was 
very good of you to send me that introduction. 

I went to the Ghetto, and was amazed at the 
knowledge and conversation of a lady who turned 
out to be Mrs. Mark Pattison. . . . She seemed to 
be much in the secrets of the Chamberlain-Morley- 
Dilke faction, and despondent about the Pall Mall. 
But I like Mrs. Flower exceedingly, though I had 
only a glimpse of her. I thought her intelligent, 
sensible, and good — things not to be lightly spoken 
of anybody — and especially not to you. As to 
Lady Blennerhassett, she is kind-hearted, knows 

1 A letter from Mr. Gladstone on the choice of a profession. 

2 Mr. Ruskin. 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 141 

how to think straight, and is the cleverest woman I 1880 
ever met out of St. John's Wood. 1 If I ever said less 
than this in her favour, it would be injustice to do 
so now. Sir Rowland Blennerhassett fell at one 
time into bad hands — hands of Midhat and of 
Newman. ... I fancied he was half a jingo, half an 
Ultramontane ; and his wife seemed to back him, 
and held much aloof from us. They have richly- 
made up for it since, and there is no Irishman 
whom I should more wish to see in conference with 
your father just now. He told me so much that was 
curious and important and concrete, that I begged 
him to put our conversation on paper, that I might 
use it in the proper quarter. He has not chosen to 
do it, I fear from a motive of delicacy. For we sup- 
pose that a set is being made against Forster ; and 
he would not like, by private letters, to contribute to 
it, as his statements certainly would have done. 
But all these are words of wisdom : it is time for 
foolishness. I remember the occasion. You wished 
that you could disengage your mind from its sur- 
roundings, and learn the judgment of posterity ; and 
I said that, if you chose, you might hear it at once. 
How I retrieved my audacity I cannot tell ; and it 
is an awkward matter to recall, unless, like the 
ghosts that looked so foolish in the vestibule of the 
" Inferno," I avoid both good and evil. 

The generation you consult will be more demo- 
cratic and better instructed than our own ; for the 
progress of democracy, though not constant, is cer- 
tain, and the progress of knowledge is both constant 

1 George Eliot lived in St. John's Wood. 



142 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

and certain. It will be more severe in literary 
judgments, and more generous in political. With 
this prospect before me I ought to have answered 
that hereafter, when our descendants shall stand 
before the slab that is not yet laid among the monu- 
ments of famous Englishmen, they will say that 
Chatham knew how to inspire a nation with his 
energy, but was poorly furnished with knowledge 
and ideas; that the capacity of Fox was never 
proved in office, though he was the first of debaters ; 
that Pitt, the strongest of ministers, was among the 
weakest of legislators; that no Foreign Secretary 
has equalled Canning, but that he showed no other 
administrative ability ; that Peel, who excelled as an 
administrator, a debater, and a tactician, fell every- 
where short of genius; and that the highest merits 
of the five without their drawbacks were united in 
Mr. Gladstone. Possibly they may remember that 
his only rival in depth, and wealth, and force of 
mind was neither admitted to the Cabinet nor buried 
in the Abbey. They will not say of him as of 
Burke that his writing equalled his speaking, or 
surpassed it like Macaulay's. For though his books 
manifest the range of his powers, if they do not 
establish a distinct and substantive reputation, they 
will breed regret that he suffered anything to divert 
him from that caree in which his supremacy was 
undisputed among the men of his time. People 
who suspect that he sometimes disparaged himself 
by not recognising the secret of his own superiority 
will incline to believe that he fell into another error 
of wise and good men, who are not ashamed to fail 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 143 

in the rigid estimate of characters and talents. 1880 
This will serve them to explain his lofty unfitness to 
deal with sordid motives, and to control that un- 
dignified but necessary work, his inability to sway 
certain kinds of men, and that strange property of 
his influence, which is greatest with multitudes, less 
in society — and least at home. And it will help 
them to understand a mystery that is becoming very 
prominent, that he formed no school, and left no 
disciples who were to him what Windham, Gren- 
ville, Wellesley, Canning, Castlereagh were to Pitt ; 
that his colleagues followed him because he had the 
nation at his back, by force more than by persuasion, 
and chafed as he did by the side of Palmerston. 

Some keys, I imagine, will be lost, and some finer 
lines will yield to the effacing fingers : the impress 
left by early friendship with men who died young, 
like Hallam, or from whom he was parted, like Hope 
Scott; the ceremonious deference to authorities 
that reigned in college days under a system heavily 
weighted with tradition ; the microscopic subtlety 
and care in the choice of words, in guarding against 
misinterpretation and in correcting it, which be- 
longed to the Oxford training, which is a growth 
of no other school, which even in such eminent 
men as Newman and Liddon is nearly a vice, and 
is a perpetual stumbling-block and a snare for lesser 
men — these are points appreciable by those who 
know him that must be obscure to those who come 
after us. They will wonder how it was that an 
intellect remarkable for originality and indepen- 
dence, matchless in vigour, fertility, and clearness, 



144 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1880 continued so long shrouded in convictions imbibed 
so early as to be akin to prejudices, and was out- 
stripped in the process of emancipation by inferior 
minds. The pride of democratic consistency will 
aim its shafts at those lingering footsteps, as a 
scientific age will resent the familiarity and sym- 
pathy with Italian thought to the detriment of more 
perfect instruments of knowledge and of power, and 
that inadequate estimate of the French and German 
genius which has been unfortunately reciprocal. 

But all the things about which no New Zealander 
will feel as we do, do not disturb your appeal to the 
serene and impartial judgment of history. When 
our problems are solved and our struggles ended, 
when distance has restored the proportions of things, 
and the sun has set for all but the highest summits, 
his fame will increase even in things where it seems 
impossible to add to it. Ask all the clever men you 
know, who were the greatest British orators, and 
there are ten or twelve names that will appear on 
every list. There is no such acknowledged primacy 
among them as Mirabeau enjoys in France or Web- 
ster in America. Macaulay told me that Brougham 
was the best speaker he had heard ; Lord Russell 
preferred Plunket; and Gaskell, Canning. I have 
heard people who judged by efficacy assign the first 
place to Peel, O'Connell, Palmerston, and to an evan- 
gelical lecturer, whom I dare say nobody but Lord 
Harrowby remembers, of the name of Burnett. But 
that illustrious chain of English eloquence that be- 
gins in the Walpolean battles, ends with Mr. Glad- 
stone. His rivals divide his gifts like the generals of 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 145 

Alexander. One may equal him in beauty of compo- 1880 
sition, another in the art of statement, and a third, 
perhaps, comes near him in fluency and fire. But 
he alone possesses all the qualities of an orator ; and 
when men come to remember what his speeches ac- 
complished, how it was the same whether he prepared 
an oration or hurled a reply, whether he addressed a 
British mob or the cream of Italian politicians, and 
would still be the same if he spoke in Latin to Con- 
vocation, they will admit no rival. " C 'est la gran- 
deur de Berryer avec la souplesse de Thiers," was 
the judgment of the ablest of the Ultramontanes 
on his speech on Charities. 

There are especially two qualities that will not be 
found in other men. First, the vigorous and per- 
petual progress of his mind. Later ages will know 
what in this critical autumn of a famous year is 
only guessed, that even now, at seventy, in his sec- 
ond ministry, after half a century of public life, his 
thoughts are clearing, moving, changing, on the two 
highest of all political questions. 1 

His other pre-eminent characteristic is the union of 
theory and policy. Bonaparte must have possessed 
the same mastery of infinite detail; and the best 
democrats, Jefferson, Sieves, and Mill, were firm and 
faithful in their grasp of speculative principle. But 
in democracy that doctrinal fidelity is neither diffi- 
cult nor very desirable of attainment. Its disciples 
embrace a ready-made system that has been thought 
out like the higher mathematics, beyond the need 
or the chance of application. The sums have been 

1 Agrarian Laws and Ecclesiastical Establishments. 



146 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1880 worked, the answers are known. There is no secret 
about their art. Their prescriptions are in the books, 
tabulated and ready for use. We always know what 
is coming. We know that the doctrine of equality 
leads by steps not only logical, but almost mechani- 
cal, to sacrifice the principle of liberty to the princi- 
ple of quantity; that, being unable to abdicate 
responsibility and power, it attacks genuine repre- 
sentation, and, as there is no limit where there is 
no control, invades, sooner or later, both property 
and religion. In a doctrine so simple, consistency 
is no merit. But in Mr. Gladstone there is all the 
resource and policy of the heroes of Carlyle's wor- 
ship, and yet he moves scrupulously along the lines 
of the science of statesmanship. Those who deem 
that Burke was the first political genius until now, 
must at this point admit his inferiority. He loved to 
evade the arbitration of principle. He was prolific 
of arguments that were admirable but not decisive. 
He dreaded two-edged weapons and maxims that 
faced both ways. Through his inconsistencies we 
can perceive that his mind stood in a brighter light 
than his language ; but he refused to employ in 
America reasons which might be fitted to Ireland, 
lest he should become odious to the great families 
and impossible with the King. 1 Half of his genius 
was spent in masking the secret that hampered it. 
Goldsmith 'a cruel line is literally true. 2 

Looking abroad, beyond the walls of Westmin- 

1 He stood by Ireland to the end, and his last letter to Sir Hercules 
Langrishe reaffirms the principles of his youth. 

2 " And to party gave up what was meant for mankind." 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 147 

ster, for objects worthy of comparison, they will say 1880 
that other men, such as Hamilton and Cavour, 
accomplished work as great; that Turgot and 
Roon were unsurpassed in administrative craft; 
that Clay and Thiers were as dexterous in parlia- 
mentary management ; that Berryer and Webster 
resembled him in gifts of speech, Guizot and Rad- 
owitz in fulness of thought; but that in the three 
elements of greatness combined, the man, the 
power, and the result — character, genius, and 
success — none reached his level. 

The decisive test of his greatness will be the gap 
he will leave. Among those who come after him 
there will be none who understand that the men 
who pay wages ought not to be the political mas- 
ters of those who earn them, (because laws should 
be adapted to those who have the heaviest stake in 
the country, for whom misgovernment means not 
mortified pride or stinted luxury, but want and 
pain, and degradation and risk to their own lives 
and to their children's souls), and who yet can 
understand and feel sympathy for institutions that 
incorporate tradition and prolong the reign of the 
dead. Fill the blanks, deepen the contrasts, shut 
your eyes to my handwriting, and, if you make 
believe very much, you shall hear the roll of the 
ages. 

Don't let me be unjust to Lecky. Dr. Smith Dec. 14 
asked me to review his " Eighteenth Century," but 
added that if I found myself inclining to severity 
he would wish to recall the proposal, inasmuch as 



148 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1880 the Quarterly had just attacked Tyndall. For it 
happens that Smith x and I sometimes dine at a 
self-satisfied place that calls itself The Club. Good 
men belong to it, but stay away: Lowe, that he 

may not meet , whom he dislikes sober, and 

detests drunk; the P.M., because he too much 
appreciates the sweetness of home ; others, for other 
futile reasons. The group that continues faithful 
and carries on the tradition of Johnson and Garrick 
is consequently small, and it is a delicate matter to 
meet in such close lists men one is editorially hold- 
ing up to ridicule and obloquy. Indeed, the pres- 
ence of both Edinburgh and Quarterly on that 
narrow stage imparts a taste of muttered thunder 
to most of our meetings. Tyndall and Lecky are 
members, and Smith did not like to be on with a 
new quarrel before he was off with the old. He 
had spoken unfavourably of an early and unripe 
book of Lecky 's, who was gratified when he heard 
of the message I had received, and still more when 
Hay ward reviewed him instead of me. I declined, 
because I was already in the clutches of a longer 
task, and because I find that people quarrel with 
me for reviewing them — not from dislike of the 
book. Hay ward could find nothing in it he did 
not know before. But I was more fortunate ; I 
learned a great deal, and should have said that it 
was solid, original, and just. Perhaps not deep or 
strong or lively, or even suggestive, for that is a 
refined quality, inconsistent with the habit of telling 
all one knows and thinks, and dotting all the i% 

1 The editor of the Quarterly Review. 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 149 

The book is lop-sided, having grown out of a desire 1880 
to demolish Froude's Irish volumes. And it was a 
mistake to treat the central, political history as a 
thing generally known, that could be taken for 
granted. No part of modern history has been so 
searched and sifted as to be without urgent need of 
new and deeper inquiry, and the touch of a fresh 
mind. Here is a new volume of 600 pages on 
Mary Stuart, by a man I never heard of, in which 
every other page tells us something unknown before, 
and the times of Walpole, Pelham, Pitt, being stirred 
by no surviving strife, have been much less studied 
than the great dispute whether Protestant or Catho- 
lic should reign in England. Neglecting the inex- 
haustible discoveries before him in the Archives, 
Lecky has to give sentence when he gives too little 
evidence, to describe characters more fully than 
careers, and to obtrude his own very good sense 
where a true scholar and artist would take care 
not to be seen. 

There is another defect, due to the secular tone 
of Lecky 's mind, but common to most historians. 
The age he writes of was the last in which perma- 
nent political doctrines were formed by ecclesiastical 
principles. Men very easily shape their notions of 
what government ought to be by their conception 
of divine right, of that domain in which the actual 
legislator is God. As to one class of minds Church 
interests are the supreme law in politics, to others, 
Church forms are the supreme example. Nobody 
is so fanatical as Nigel Penruddocke ; but through 
subtle channels the influence works, and it was not 



150 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1880 merely a propelling, but a constructive force in 
politics from the end of the Middle Ages until the 
middle of the eighteenth century, when it became 
fixed in the theories of men like Atterbury, Toland, 
Hoadley, Wilson, Warburton — whose innermost 
instincts might be better exposed. 

As to the novel of the season, 1 it is so dull and so 
absurd that I cannot get beyond the first volume. 
Except querulousness, it has nearly all the bad 
qualities of old age ; and if St. Barbe is meant for 
Thackeray, it is contemptible even in caricature. 
My neighbour Salisbury must feel that his time is 
soon coming. 

There is a little disappointment for Hayward 
even in the " Life of Fox." There is less pioneer's 
work in it than in Fitzmaurice. But the fulness of 
knowledge, the force and finish of the style (you see 
by my three F's that I have been studying the Irish 
question) have revealed a new man. I see him 
compared to his uncle, 2 and I think it is not an 
exaggeration, though Taine says there have been 
only two men in the world who had Macaulay's per- 
spicuity. G. O. 3 is as transparent, as graceful, and 
more easy. The only thing that has shocked me 
yet is his presumptuous assurance about the author- 
ship of Junius. It is a Whig dogma that Francis 
was Junius; but that is mere Macaulayolatry. I 
have seen half the arguments that convinced me 
thirty years ago fall to pieces ; and I am provoked 

1 Lord Beaconsfield's " Endymion," in which Nigel Penruddocke is 
one of the characters. 

2 Lord Macaulay. 3 George Otto Trevelyan. 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 151 

that Trevelyan gives me old conclusions instead of 1880 
new proofs. If his speaking has made as much 
progress as his writing, the Government has ac- 
quired a future Secretary of State. But I am still 
unhappy at their meeting Parliament with Courtney 
out in the cold. 

As I quote Taine, I ought to say that I do not 
agree with him. The problems Macaulay made so 
clear were not the most difficult. Fenwick's at- 
tainder, and the theory of standing armies — purple 
patches in the way of exposition — are trifles com- 
pared with questions which jurists, divines, econo- 
mists have to discuss. The phases of the Pelagian 
controversy, or the principles of government about 
which the Lutheran, Zwinglian, Calvinist, and 
Anglican Churches contended, would better have 
tested his power of making darkness clear. 

I am glad that I wrote to Fagan before reading 
his book. 1 For I wrote about the Italian corre- 
spondence, which is curious. But the biography 
does not deserve the praise it gets from partial 
people in Downing Street. Houghton, I hear, has 
written ill-naturedly about Panizzi ; but the book is 
as full as an egg of mistakes, and of things worse 
than mistakes, so that even remonstrance would be 
thrown away. You will read with interest two vol- 
umes of Merimee's letters to Panizzi, just coming 
out. He was a bad man, and generally wrong ; but 
few men ever wrote so well. 

I will get the Church Quarterly at Nice, where I 

1 " Life of Panizzi." 



152 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1880 go to see my friend Arnim, who is dying there, and 
shall be very curious to read the article. 1 There is not 
a more interesting or unexhausted topic in all history 
than Julian, but I would have waited for the prom- 
ised edition of his work against the Christians, 
which had not appeared when I left Germany. 

Here is Parker, 2 fresh from Hawarden ; and when 
I think of your long and obstinate cold, I cannot 
help regretting that you did not make the Cardwells 
bring you to Montfleury, where they are our near- 
est neighbours. He is much better than half a year 
ago, but very weak. For three weeks the sun has 
shone all day. Greatcoats and umbrellas are 
obsolete; and we have the most beautiful walks. 

T. B. Potter, also at Montfleury, and a great 
favourite with my children, keeps me supplied with 
Cobdenian literature, and I have read Brodrick 3 
with much pleasure. 

Of course we are always thinking of Ireland, wish- 
ing for heroic treatment, such as would have saved 
Louis XVI. and the old French Monarchy, despair- 
ing of the needful overwhelming majority in the 
Commons, of any majority in the Lords, of union 
and strength in the Ministry; cheered by several 
intelligent letters and articles in the newspapers, 
sure only of the chief, and more sure of his strong 
mind than of his strong hand. If he has time for 
anything else, I hope he has read La Belgique et le 

1 "Julian the Apostate." By the Rev. the Hon. Arthur Lyttelton, 
afterwards Bishop of Southampton. 

2 Charles Stewart Parker, then M.P. for Perth. 

s " English Land and English Landlords." By the Honble. George 
Brodrick, late Warden of Merton. 






LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 153 

Vatican, the volume published by Frere-Orban, the 1880 
Belgian Minister, a weighty study of Vaticanism. 

I am under the shock of the sudden Cabinet and 
of the Standard article, and am waiting for an 
answer to a telegram to know whether I must come 
at once. If not now, then on Monday or Tuesday 
before the opening, for I want to get the cue of the 
situation from the P.M. (an affair of five minutes), 
to see you, not quite so rapid a proceeding, and to 
hear the first debates. 



Your patient and forgiving letter is my best Xmas Cannes 
gift. It will be a . joy indeed to see you again next Dec ' 27 
week. I hope not only in the midst of gilded cere- 
monial. 

It is so like you to take my nonsense kindly and 
only to dispute the praise. But I am not quite so 
far off as you imagine. In speaking of home I must 
have indicated by a — break, that there was a change 
of key; that I could not stay among the lofty 
entities that surround Tennyson even when he but- 
ters toast, that I was coming down from the silver 
side of the clouds and groping for things of earth. 
So that my climax is not quite literally meant. 
Having thus paved the way to retreat from an 
exposed position, let me take my stand for a 
moment, and say that I think it not quite unten- 
able. . . . You yourself, who have shared so much 
of your father's thoughts and confidence, have 
hardly adapted yourself to his chosen tastes and 
special pursuits? In more than one of the later 



154 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1880 phases of his life, I fancy you hardly recognised the 
secret laws of the growth of his mind, and join him 
sometimes by an effort, over a gap. There is an 
ancient scholar at Cannes who told me that he has 
such confidence in the P.M. that he feels sure he 
will succeed in defending his policy. I partly said 
and partly thought that anybody can be on Mr. 
Gladstone's side who waits to be under the thrall 
of his speech. The difficulty is to hear the grass 
growing, to know the road by which he travels, the 
description of engine, the quality of the stuff he 
treats with, the stars he steers by. The scholar is 
old and ugly, and, it may be, tiresome. It is impos- 
sible to be less like you. But is there not one bit 
of likeness — in the stars ? 

Really it is time for me to adopt the Carey tactics 
and run away from my post of defiance. 

You know one of the two subjects. You will 
know the other on the last night of the debate on 
the address. I am only listening to the grass. 

You will not resist what I said of our five Minis- 
ters if you will consider one word. I think I spoke 
of their best qualities, not of all their qualities. 
Pitt's art of making himself necessary to the King 
and the constituencies is unapproached. But then 
it is a vice, not a merit, to live for expedients, and 
not for ideas. Chatham was very successful as a 
War Minister. Mr. Gladstone has not rivalled him 
in that capacity. I fancy that both Pitt and Peel 
had a stronger hold than he has on the City. Please 
remember that I am possessed of a Whig devil, and 
neither Peel nor Pitt lives in my Walhalla. The 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 155 

great name of Mr. Canning and the greater name 1880 
of Mr. Burke * are the only names that I hold in high- 
est honour since party government was invented. 

You can hardly imagine what Burke is for all of 
us who think about politics, and are not wrapped in 
the blaze and the whirlwind of Rousseau. Systems 
of scientific thought have been built up by famous 
scholars on the fragments that fell from his table. 
Great literary fortunes have been made by men who 
traded on the hundredth part of him. Brougham 
and Lowe lived by the vitality of his ideas. Mack- 
intosh and Macaulay are only Burke trimmed and 
stripped of all that touched the skies. Montalem- 
bert, borrowing a hint from Dollinger, says that 
Burke and Shakespeare were the two greatest 
Englishmen. 

But when I speak of Shakespeare the news of 
last Wednesday 2 comes back to me, and it seems as 
if the sun had gone out. You cannot think how 
much I owed her. Of eighteen or twenty writers 
by whom I am conscious that my mind has been 
formed, she was one. Of course I mean ways, not 
conclusions. In problems of life and thought, 
which baffled Shakespeare disgracefully, her touch 
was unfailing. No writer ever lived who had any- 
thing like her power of manifold, but disinterested 
and impartially observant sympathy. If Sophocles 
or Cervantes had lived in the light of our culture, 
if Dante had prospered like Manzoni, George Eliot 
might have had a rival. 

1 An allusion to Mr. Gladstone's speech on the Reform Bill of 1866. 

2 George Eliot's death. 



156 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1880 ....... 

I do think that, of the three greatest Liberals, 
Burke is equally good in speaking and writing; 
Macaulay better in writing and Mr. Gladstone 
better in speaking. I doubt whether he feels it; 
and if he does not feel it, then I should say that 
there is a want of perfect knowledge and judgment. 
That want I see clearly in his views as to other 
men. He hardly ever, I think, judges them too 
severely. Sometimes I am persuaded he judges 
with an exceeding generosity, and I fancy it is be- 
cause he will not charge his mind with unchari- 
tableness, because he does not allow for the wind, 
that he does not always make bull's eyes. 



1881 It is impossible to leave England without emo- 
Athenczum tion, when my last glimpse of your father was lying 
in bed and in the great doctor's hands. It will 
indeed be such a charity if you will send a line on 
a P.C. by to-morrow, Saturday's post, to me at 
Goschen's, Seacox Heath, Hawkhurst, Kent, that we 
may have Sunday's comfort in good news, and I 
say advisedly a P.C. that you may not suspect me 
of an artifice to obtain that other delight, of an early 
letter, such as those you write. Don't let the lesson 
of suspicion turn against the teacher. Don't even 
let it damage anybody much. I will not spoil my 
own ideal. That American book is too wicked ! 1 
Forgive me if there is one point, if only one, on 

1 " Democracy," a political novel, published anonymously, which 
made much noise at the time. 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 157 

which I do not agree with Ruskin, who never 1881 
writes to any one what might not be written to the 
world, on the fly-leaves of books. 

Your mother must think me an ill-mannered 
wretch, even if she did not discover it before — for 
going away without thanking her for that beautiful 
photograph. I did not feel sure, at first, how much 
she was weighted with trouble, for I had never 
witnessed her serene courage. I will leave it to 
you, if you please, mindful of an exquisite proverb 
quoted this evening in the House as follows : Speech 
is silence, but silver is golden. 



What I said of Ruskin was only to excuse the La 

Ma 
yan. 20 



platitude I wrote in his book, not to rescue my 7 ' 



letters from appropriate destruction. 

You evidently think that George Eliot is not the 
only novelist at whose feet I have sat, and that I 
have learned from " Endymion " the delicate art of 
flattery. So that the seed of suspicion has taken 
root after all, and I hang by my own rope. 

We might perhaps agree about Trevelyan better 
than you suppose. I probably started from a lower 
estimate of the man, and was astonished at his ful- 
ness of knowledge and the vigour of his pen. The 
oblique style of narrative is said to be an invention 
of Gibbon, and Trevelyan is of course full of Gib- 
bon's times and writings. And I quite agree with 
you that the business of historians is to get out of 
the way, and, like the man who plays Punch, to 



158 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1881 concentrate attention on their personages. No- 
body, however, did this less than his illustrious 
uncle. 

I shall look out with extreme interest for your 
kinsman's 1 review of George Eliot. I heard so 
many hard things said of her by Arnold and Pal- 
grave, but Wolseley is one of her admirers. 



La My letter was hardly posted when yours arrived. 

Madeleine Besides what you mention, Arthur Lyttelton would 
find an important paper in the Pall Mall of the last 
week of the year, on the early Warwickshire life of 
George Eliot, and a letter of hers on the original of 
Dinah. I fancy it would be worth while to look up 
some of her Westminster reviews between 1850 and 
1854; and the last word of her philosophy is more 
outspoken in Lewes's scientific writings than in her 
own. 

It is hard to say why I rate Middlemarch so high. 
There was a touch of failure in the two preceding 
books, in Felix Holt, and even in Romola. And it 
was Middlemarch that revealed to me not only her 
grand serenity, but her superiority to some of the 
greatest writers. My life is spent in endless striving 
to make out the inner point of view, the raison 
d'etre, the secret of fascination for powerful minds, 
of systems of religion and philosophy, and of poli- 
tics, the offspring of the others, and one finds that 
the deepest historians know how to display their 

1 Arthur Lyttelton's. See his " Modern Poets of Faith, Doubt, and 
Paganism, and Other Essays " (Murray). 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 159 

origin and their defects, but do not know how to 1881 
think or to feel as men do who live in the grasp of 
the various systems. And if they sometimes do, it 
is from a sort of sympathy with the one or the other, 
which creates partiality and exclusiveness and antip- 
athies. Poets are no better. Hugo, who tries so 
hard to do justice to the Bishop and the Conven- 
tionnel, to the nuns and the Jacobinical priest, fails 
from want of contact with the royalist nobleman 
and the revolutionary triumvirate, as Shakespeare 
fails ignobly with the Roman Plebs. George Eliot 
seemed to me capable not only of reading the 
diverse hearts of men, but of creeping into their 
skin, watching the world through their eyes, feeling 
their latent background of conviction, discerning 
theory and habit, influences of thought and know- 
ledge, of life and of descent, and having obtained 
this experience, recovering her independence, strip- 
ping off the borrowed shell, and exposing scien- 
tifically and indifferently the soul of a Vestal, a 
Crusader, an Anabaptist, an Inquisitor, a Dervish, 
a Nihilist, or a Cavalier without attraction, prefer- 
ence, or caricature. And each of them should say 
that she displayed him in his strength, that she 
gave rational form to motives he had imperfectly 
analysed, that she laid bare features in his character 
he had never realised. 

I heard the close of Friday's debate, and was 

much distressed at the hopeless badness of C 's 

speech. But the situation gained by the result, and 
still more by what passed on Monday. 

The topic of the reason for delay is, as I hinted 



160 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1881 at my last moment, a very delicate one, and not to 
be discussed lightly. Suppose there is bloodshed in 
Ireland before the Protection Bill passes; then a 
reproach would lie at their door for thinking more 
of eventualities that regard themselves than of the 
immediate danger to life, and the heavy strain on 
families of small means dependent on their own or 
other people's rents. And there will be this argu- 
ment to meet, that less severity in October or 
November would go farther than greater severity in 
March. 

The journey across France was really freezing. 
So I remained at Paris for a few hours' rest and no 
visits. Bisaccia came south in the same train, and 
Goldsmid, who gives me a dinner to-night. I see 
by the papers that it is still too cold for your pony- 
carriage. 

My whole social philosophy consists in the desire 
not merely to gratify by civilities, but to bring men 
into contact with Mr. Gladstone — be it by break- 
fast, dinner, or small and early, or even by a formal 

talking to like 's — and your best art, together 

with the due discharge of pasteboard, will be to bring 
him to bear, directly, on the seventy or eighty men 
who want it, and are fit for it, and don't neglect Lady 
Spencer's parties, or Lady Granville's less multifa- 
rious evenings. It is the confrontation, not the 
ceremony, that matters. False believer, 1 because 
impostor, not to say hypocrite. I mean that, beyond 

1 This refers to the inscription Lord Acton inserted in Ruskin's 
"Arrows of the Chace" — " From a False Believer." 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 161 

his charitableness and a written eloquence that al- 1881 
ways fills me with an unspeakable admiration and 
delight, I do not believe in your artful philosopher ; 
that the differences revealed to us by his writings, 
his conversation at Hawarden, the letter you treated 
so generously, cut down to the bone, and leave me 
no space or patience for anything better than a 
gracious courtesy. Therefore, in abetting your 
studies in Ruskinese, I am no better than a hum- 
bug, which is not a word to be written in books 
that will live and will irritate as long as the lan- 
guage. 

My faults are to you an opportunity of displaying La 
those qualities to which you will not let me allude. ^ e % ne 

Those are not truisms about George Eliot. The 
reality of her characters is generally perfect. They 
are not quite always vivid, or consistent. They 
degenerate sometimes into reminiscences. But 
they live a life apart from hers, and do not serve 
her purposes. I wonder whether Arthur Lyttelton 
knows any good German criticism of her; I don't 
think I have seen any. 

The Tories were sure to cheer as wildly as the 
Irish hit. You have, I fancy, felt the weakness of 
Forster's great speech, 1 which, to the eye of a 
practised revolutionist, slightly disparages the 
Government. 

He makes out an irresistible case against those 

1 Speech on introducing the Peace Preservation Bill. 



162 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1881 who think all is right in Ireland, so far at least 
as to need nothing exceptional from Parliament. 
He thinks little of the man — the imaginary hearer 
— who thinks that the Irish peasants have a case ; 
that the suffering and the wrong are real, and are 
partly the work of the law ; that the horrors which 
fill us with impatience are the direct — though not 
the unmixed — consequence thereof; that the first 
way to remove effects is to remove the cause ; that, 
whereas all this is certain, it remains to be proved 
that the evil is beyond that treatment ; and that the 
movement which has its root in the soil, cannot be 
so dissociated from the movement that has its root 
in America, that the one may heal and the other 
may starve. Probably he does not wish to speak of 
remedial measures beforehand, and in the same 
comminatory breath, or to dwell too much on the 
purely revolutionary peril, which is a delicate topic, 
about which people are not agreed, and which it is 
awkward to prove. But he is so little occupied with 
the one real objection, in this speech charged with 
the wisdom of many Cabinet discussions, that one 
wonders whether that other line of thought, so 
repugnant to the Castle, 1 was ever forcibly put 
forward in the Cabinet. 

What you say of great men manifesting only 
themselves in their works — the predominance, one 
should say, of the lyrical mood ■ — is profoundly true. 
Milton and Byron are supreme examples. It is the 
reason why there are so few great epics, and so few 
great — there are many good — histories. It is, in 

1 Dublin Castle. 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 163 

higher literary work, the same solicitude that makes 1881 
it almost impossible for men to think of the right 
instead of the expedient. You can hardly imagine 
how people wondered what Mr. Gladstone's motives 
were in the Bulgarian affair. Most politicians would 
be ashamed of having done any considerable thing 
because it was right, from no motive more clever 
than duty. 

Fancy the Encyclopedia Britannica asking me to 
do their article on Jesuits ! I answered that I hoped 
they would have one on Mrs. Lewes. I have writ- 
ten my testimony to Mr. Cross, 1 encouraging him 
about the intended life. . . . Thank you a thousand 
times beforehand for every chance line you promise 
me. You do not know how to say things that are 
not interesting. 

There is no way of describing the light and the La 
joy which your letters bring to this place of exile, £ " 
with all the reality of the old country, and with the 
ideal which belongs only to you and yours. I was 
hoping that you had heard the glorious speech. 2 It 
must have been a treat for you ; and we saw at once, 
from our Pall Mall itself, how profound the impres- 
sion had been. My imaginary listener, if he had 
listened, might not have remained unconverted. 
Certainly, as you say, the strongest confirmation of 
both speech and policy is the attitude of these ill- 
conditioned Irishmen. As I have paired with Lord 

1 George Eliot's husband. 

2 On the introduction of the new rules of Procedure after the expul- 
sion of the Irish Members. 



Feb. 2 



164 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1881 Limerick (who has married a Miss Colquhoun of 
Cannes, and prefers bondage at his father-in-law's 
villa to the protection of the land-league in his 
ancestral domain, and who would support the Bill), 
I have virtually paired against it, and am, I dare 
say, the only peer on that side, unless Henry Stan- 
ley 1 escapes from Clare, where he is detained, under 
pretence of Boycotting, by the transparent artifices 
of friends. . . . 

I was prepared to believe the Standard account 
by a visit from Wolverton, who offered to show me 
his last letter from Downing Street, and I told him 
I thought he could do it. He was delighted to find 
the Hawarden photograph at Cannes. You will 
not see him for a fortnight, unless he lost all his 
money to-day at Monte Carlo. He deserves to lose 
it. He wants a strong Coercion Bill and an illu- 
sory Land Bill ; but his party and personal loyalty 
make up for much obdurate deafness to the Morley 
predications. 

I am very much obliged indeed for your message 
about Trevelyan. I talked about bringing in out- 
siders, and men not of one's own politics ; and I 
spoke of Trollope and Morley in the former capacity, 
and of Goschen in the latter. Trollope is con- 
demned as noisy. There are obvious objections to 
a newspaper editor, and the particular Lyttelton 
objection was urged, in a letter to me, by Reeve. 2 
Derby and Arthur Russell put forward G. O., 3 and 
I leave Goschen in the lurch until he answers my 

1 The late Lord Stanley of Alderley. 

2 The editor of the Edinburgh Review. 8 Trevelyan. 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 165 

letter from Paris pointing out the error of his ways ; 1881 
but I hope you will be gracious to him before he 
goes. Goschen is above sordid motives. He dreads 

the Radicals, detests , despises , and, if left 

to himself and the nearest influences, he will drift 
away. His lips have never been touched with 
the sacred fire of Liberty. His international soul 
has never glowed with the zeal of the good old 
cause. He is moved by the fears to which city men 
are prone, and there are people more calculating 
than he is, who work those fears, partly to check 
the Government, partly to provide a new chief for 
the Opposition. Nobody can keep him straight but 
Mr. Gladstone. There is nothing present to offer 
him, as I take it for granted that one Budget will 
not satisfy his — the P.M.'s — vast financial designs. 
But he can employ the plan of Napoleon, who said 
to reluctant tribunes : " Que ne venez vous discuter 
avec moi, dans mon Cabinet? Nous aurions des 
conversations de famille." It is not a profound 
constitutional view of the uses of an opposition; 
but there is a hint in it for Mr. Gladstone, who 
underrates his own power over men in private. 
The bill as sketched by the Standard will strengthen 
his hold on Goschen. 

Chamberlain has been often as indiscreet as the 
theory he expounded to F. Cavendish implies, but 
he can hardly have prompted the Standard. 

I am glad to think of Dizzy dining at No. 18. 
I wonder whether it is because Lord Granville has 
heard he is Rowchester. 1 Your choice of topics 

1 In " Endymion." 



166 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1881 shows how you were on your guard with Sir Bartle. 
The true thing about him is the strength, not the 
softness. I know that many have been taken in by 
that assumed quality, and much resented it. The 
right place for him would be in Asia Minor. 

If you were to see those letters you would say that 
Burne-Jones is not the only hand at missing a like- 
ness; but in politics you would recognise exactly 
what must have been your impression, that I had 
strung my expectations a little above practicable 
height, and came down with anguish to the baseness 
of prose — like the heroine of my dreams (I mean 
Dorothea, not the lady whose name is in your letter). 

I fear there is a perceptible change for the worse 
in Cardwell. 

La You have gone through an anxious time, and I 

Madeleine nee d no t sa y where my thoughts were fixed during 
the week of Revolution. 1 I trust you are well out 
of it, and found relief at Lubbock's. Wolverton is 
growing excited and goes back. I shall miss his 
good spirits, his keen pugnacity, his singularly 
practical and unphilosophical view of politics, and 
Godley's 2 letters. And I don't know whether the 
Government will gain an adviser prompt, if they 
make a mistake, to help them to find it out. 

I have suggested to May 3 a precedent for the 
action of the Speaker in stopping the discussion. 

1 The obstruction of the Peace Preservation Bill which ended in the 
autocratic intervention of the Speaker, and the removal of the Irish Mem- 
bers from the House. 

2 Sir Arthur Godley, at that time private secretary to Mr. Gladstone. 
8 Sir Erskine May. 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 167 

It was three days before the Little Gentleman in ii 
Black Velvet 1 at Hampton Court changed the 
dynasty. The House was in Committee; the 
Tories were getting the worst of it and wished to 
prevent a division. The Whigs would not hear of 
an adjournment, and were jubilant, when one of 
their number had a stroke of apoplexy. Harley, the 
Speaker, in concert with the Chairman, seized the 
opportunity, took the chair, and closed the debate. 
Although the majority was floored, nobody seems 
to have remonstrated. I presume it is not on the 
Journals, and does not count. 

In the hundreds of reflections suggested by the 
day of the scene, and of the superb speech, there is 
one slightly laced with regret (laced is a metaphor 
taken from toddy and negus). Once in 1816, the 
extreme Royalists, taking offence, walked out of the 
Chamber of Deputies. The Majority were about to 
vote when De Serre 2 said : " Personne ne croira 
que j'approuve, meme indirectement, l'espece de 
scission dont nos yeux sont frappes en ce moment. 
Mais je demande s'il ne serait pas de la sagesse, je 
dirai meme de la generosite de la majorite ici 
constatee et qui pourrait deliberer tres legalement, 
de remettre la seance a demain. II importe qu'on 
ne puisse pas dire que vous avez refuse d'entendre 
ceux de vos membres qui pourraient avoir des ob- 
servations a faire." And the debate was adjourned. 

1 The Jacobite description of the mole whose burrowings caused the 
death of William the Third by making his horse stumble. 

2 The Comte de Serre was a Minister under Louis XVIII., and a 
leader of the Moderate Royalists after the Restoration. 



168 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1881 I like to quote De Serre, for though a Tory in 
those days, he would have developed if he had 
lived; and there is no statesman in French parlia- 
mentary history who has so much analogy with Mr. 
Gladstone. 

Arrival of your letter from High Elms, 1 with 
enclosure — I was surprised at those Irishmen going 
astray so hopelessly, when they had a man amongst 
them who knows so much about parliamentary tactics 
as Justin McCarthy. Their anger at the arrest of 
Davitt shows that it was not properly deliberate. 
One argument with which you must have grown 
familiar in the autumn comes to one's mind again 
since the Resolution. Free government is govern- 
ment by consent; and consent is conveyed by the 
choice constituencies make of their representatives. 
In a local and circumscribed, not imperial question, 
legislation must, as a rule, depend on the consent of 
those concerned, as represented in parliament. This 
argument is not conclusive against Coercion, because 
the Land League has not even an Irish majority on 
its side. But it might apply to the three quarter 
vote. 2 In a purely Irish question the whole Irish 
representation might be swamped and silenced by 
half the House. I think the Irish might make some 
play here by insisting on the distinction between 
wanton obstruction — stoppage of imperial measures 
and paralysis of the House — and obstruction on 
their own exclusive ground. Wanton obstruction 
cannot be tolerated in a parliament that legislates 
for one-fifth of mankind, although it was the method 
1 Sir John Lubbock's. 2 For closing debate. 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 169 

by which Rome acquired liberty. But the Resolu- 1881 
tion makes even local obstruction impossible to the 
unanimous people of Ireland. It establishes a 
degree of subjection that did not exist before. As 
the test of liberty is the position and security of 
minorities, it has to encounter a very grave objec- 
tion which is not felt in Mr. Gladstone's time, but 
might be, under men like Harcourt, or the late 
Lord Derby, or George Grenville. 

As the police 1 are responsible, I hope Mr. Glad- 
stone will always be ready to listen to their advice. 
But he knows very well that it is the function of 
the police to take fright, and to wish to be very 
much indeed on the safe side. 

I am glad you saw more of Lubbock, and liked 
him better. He has astonishing attainments and a 
power of various work that I always envy. And he 
is gentle to the verge of weakness. He has some- 
thing to learn on the gravest side of human know- 
ledge ; apart from that he would execute his own 
scheme 2 better than almost anybody. How I 
should like to see my own List of Authorities 
drawn up by you ! There was a Pope who said 
that fifty books would include every good idea in 
the world, Literature has doubled since then, and 
one would have to take a hundred. How inter- 
esting it would be to get that question answered 
by one's most intelligent acquaintances: Winton, 3 

1 At this period shadowing Mr. Gladstone's movements. 

2 Sir John Lubbock, in conversation with Miss Gladstone, com- 
plained of the lack of a guide or supreme authority in the choice of 
books. She suggested Lord Acton, and mentioned this talk in writing 
to him. 3 Harold Browne. 



170 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1881 Dunelm, 1 Church, Stanley, Liddon, Max Mliller, 
Jowett, Lowell, Freeman, Lecky, Morley, Maine, 
Argyll, Tennyson, Newman, W. E. G., Paget, 2 
Sherbrooke, Arnold, Stephen, Goldwin Smith, 
Hutton, Pattison, Jebb, Symonds, and very few 
others. There would be a surprising agreement. 
One is generally tempted to give a preference to 
writers whose influence one has felt. But that is 
often accidental. It is by accident, by the accident 
that I read Coleridge first, that Carlyle never did 
me any good. If I had spoken of him it would not 
have been from the fulness of the heart. Except- 
ing Froude, I think him the most detestable of his- 
torians. The doctrine of heroes, the doctrine that 
will is above law, comes next in atrocity to the 
doctrine that the flag covers the goods, that the 
cause justifies its agents, which is what Froude lives 
for. Carlyle's robust mental independence is not 
the same thing as originality. The Germans love 
him because he is an echo of the voices of their 
own classic age. He lived on the thought of Ger- 
many when it was not at its best, between Herder 
and Richter, before the age of discipline and 
science. Germany since 1840 is very different 
from that which inspired him ; and his conception 
of its teaching was a grotesque anachronism. It 
gave him his most valuable faculty, that of standing 
aside from the current of contemporary English 
ideas, and looking at it from an Archimedean 
point, but it gave him no rule for judging, no test 
of truth, no definite conviction, no certain method 
1 Lightfoot. 2 Sir James Paget, the great surgeon. 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 171 

and no sure conclusion. But he had historic grasp 1881 
— which is a rare quality — some sympathy with 
things that are not evident, and a vague, fluctuating 
notion of the work of impersonal forces. There is 
a flash of genius in " Past and Present," and in the 
" French Revolution," though it is a wretched 
history. And he invented Oliver Cromwell. That 
is the positive result of him, that, and his personal 
influence over many considerable minds — a stimu- 
lating, not a guiding influence ; as when Stanley 
asked what he ought to do, and Carlyle answered: 
" Do your best ! " You see that I agree with the 
judgment of the Times (outer sheet) ; and the Daily 
News, preferring him to Macaulay and G. Eliot, 
and, constructively, to Mill or Newman or Morley, 
seems to me ridiculous. I should speak differently 
if, reading him earlier, I had learned from him 
instead of Coleridge the lesson of intellectual 
detachment. 

• •••••• 

How could you read Laveleye's foolish letters? 
Pray don't believe him. His speech about Herbert 
Spencer is an after-thought. He said he thought 
him inferior to Mill ; the rest is padding. As he has 
emptied his sack of compliments on me I am sorry 
to think of the other things you would have him 
say, for they must be in the other key. Have you 
read the Nineteenth Century on Liberal Philoso- 
phy? 1 Mr. Gladstone certainly would not allow 

1 By Robert Wallace, afterwards M.P. for East Edinburgh. The defi- 
nition, " trust in the people, tempered by prudence," was laid down by 
Mr. Gladstone himself in a speech at Oxford in 1877. 



172 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1881 the definition of Liberalism attributed to him to 
stand alone. My book begins with 100 definitions, 1 
but that is not to be one of them, and I wish I 
knew of one fit to stand in your father's name. 

The royal dinner-party was evidently a high suc- 
cess, and, apart from royalty, I was glad to think of 
Derby frequenting Downing Street. I hope his 
time will come soon, although when he and Goschen 
are in the Cabinet I am afraid I shall lose my tenant 
at Prince's Gate. . . . 

Cannes Your kindness to B is like nothing but your- 

Feb - ld self — not only for procuring him his innings so 
opportunely, but for interpreting so generously his 
perplexity and irresolution. I dare say you are 
right to lay the blame on me. It will be very 
amusing to get remonstrances from bewildered 
friends, and I think I shall have to write to Arthur 
Russell, as the most inquisitive and idle of them 
all, and therefore the best to trust with a secret that 
is to be told. For pray believe that there is no real 
truth in the report. 

I paired for the Government with Lord Limerick 
against. 2 No doubt, if he was present and voted, he 
would support the bill. Therefore, in balancing or 
neutralising his vote, I am virtually pairing with a 
supporter, not an opponent, and am myself practi- 
cally opposing. But that is only my metaphysical 
commentary, founded on the fact that an Irish Con- 
servative is sure to like the bill much better than I 
do. There is no understanding of the kind between 

1 Of Liberty. 2 On the Peace Preservation Bill. 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 173 

us, and neither of us mentioned this particular meas- 1881 
ure to the other. I am simply in Cork's list, paired 
with a good Tory. And it all comes to nothing, 
for none of us expect a division on the second 
Reading. 

The only people with whom I need disclaim the 
impeachment would be Morley & Co., as I should 
only be making radical capital out of a little joke. 
The joke consisting in your representing me as a 
worse enemy to Ministers than all the Tories and 
half the Irish. 

I made out in the autumn that Blennerhassett 
laid a good deal of blame on Forster's want of 
flexibility of mind and of coup d'ceil. I dare say 
he is quite right. There is evident truth in one 
remark you quote. The excuse for agitation is by 
no means always its cause ; and I would not be too 
hopeful of the effects even of the most perfect or 
most popular Land Bill. Ultramontane priests will 
never, permanently, be on the side of the State. To 
nurse their own influence and the religious faith of 
the people, they always magnify antagonism and per- 
secution, which implies denunciation of antagonists 
and persecutors. And there are deeper reasons still, 
why it is useless to apply to Irish measures the usual 
test of success. However, I am more often angry 
with our clergy for absolutism than for revolution, 
so that I will say no more. . . . 

I never knew Amalie v. Lasaulx ; but her brother 
was one of the best friends I ever had. For two 
years I followed his lectures on ancient literature, 
philosophy, &c, and he left his library to me when 



174 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1881 he died. His whole mind was occupied with reli- 
gious ideas and studies; but it was an intellectual 
religiousness, without a notion of a church or any 
fervour of prayer. His sister had his indepen- 
dence of mind and the same generous idealism, 
and a humble piety which he had not, and which 
is remarkably rare among intellectual Germans. 

. . . The Speaker 1 seems to be a physician as 
well as a statesman. The victory over the disturb- 
ing Irish must bring your father immense relief. It 
is twenty-one years since I met him at Brighton, 
horribly jaded, and getting rapid baths of sea-air. 
I hope he will benefit this time. 

You will have seen Scherer on Carlyle. The 
passage in Monday's Pall Mall, exalting Arnold at 
his expense, only shows that his 2 burlesque language 
provoked the rigid and highly white-chokered critic. 
Froude will be a worthy biographer for so unscrupu- 
lous a hero. 

Cannes What I said of St. Hilaire has become a little 
Feb. 19 obsolete since his resolute denial that the Greeks 
have a European decision — or award, as it stood 
in the English draft — in their favour. I cannot 
remember whether I indicated the mental peculi- 
arity which has developed into such impolicy ; but 
whatever I did say is for you to apply and employ 
entirely as you please. The Arthur Russells, more- 
over, know him enough to introduce the necessary 
vinegar. 

The little joke about Forster is no deeper than 

1 Mr. Brand, afterwards Lord Hampden. 2 Carlyle's. 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 175 

^Esop. One said : " He has a woman's heart with i! 
a lion's spirit." Somebody answered : " Rather, a 
lion's skin." 

It was reported that Ecuador 1 was preparing a 
Bark in defence of the Pope. Your father sug- 
gested that it must be a vocal bark. Others said 
it was probably Jesuit's bark (they prevail in Ecua- 
dor). And so it went on — that it was worse than 
their bite, &c, &c, &c. 

I thought the World's apology to the Irish utterly 
impudent, but one of the best strokes of wit I can 
remember in my time. 

I meant it as you say; only the slightest tinge. 
One need only look at them to see that generosity 
would be as completely wasted on them as on Salis- 
bury, though there are three or four very much better 
than others. De Serre was, except Chateaubriand, 
the only man with a streak of genius among the 
politicians of Louis XVIII.'s reign; and he had 
virtue and governing power, which that brilliant 
impostor had not. It seldom happens that parlia- 
mentary debates cut down to the bone, or tap the 
bed of principle. There are about half-a-dozen 
series of debates that do, because they constructed 
a system of government from the foundations — the 
French National Assembly, in 1789-1791 and 1848; 
Frankfort, in 1848; Belgium, in 1831 ; the French 
Parliament, after 181 5, are among the rare instances. 
And in that latter instance the most eminent orator, 
the finest character, was De Serre. He stood nearly 
where Canning stood at that time — between the 

iSeep. 137. 



176 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1881 parties, disliked by both, persuaded, without the least 
prejudice or passion, that a strong monarchy was 
necessary in the levelled society of France, willing to 
make some sacrifice of strict principle in that cause, 
yet looking forward to better times, which he did 
not live to see, for his health broke down in 1822, 
and he died in 1824. One story will explain the man 
to you. In one of his speeches he laid down that 
the bulk of a representative assembly is almost always 
well meaning (an axiom of constitutional philosophy). 
Furious outcries from all the royalist benches inter- 
rupted him ; shouts of : " Vous oubliez la Conven- 
tion ! " He answered : " Yes, even the Convention ! 
(order ! order !) . . . and if the Convention had not 
voted under the terror of assassins, France would 
have been spared the most terrible of crimes ! " 

Laveleye has great knowledge of Political 
Economy and of politics, and his peculiarity is that 
he does not think of party, or power, or wealth, but 
is thoroughly anxious about the condition of 
society. That separates him from orthodox Econo- 
mists (Lowe, Mallet, Newmarch), who do not attend 
to the problem of Distribution, and are not made 
sleepless by the suffering and sorrow of the poor. 
He is slightly heterodox ; what Germans call Kathe- 
dersozialist, and what even Maine would call down- 
right Socialist. His chief work is an account of 
early forms of property, an indirect and rather 
confused plea for common property in land. In- 
gram, 1 Cliffe Leslie nearly represent him in Eng- 

1 John K. Ingram, Fellow of Trinity College, Dublin, and author of 
the article on Political Economy in the Encyclopedia Britannica. 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 177 

land. He is a special enemy of the Catholic 1881 
priesthood, like M. Frere-Orban, the Belgian minis- 
ter, and Laurent of Ghent; but differs from them 
in the wish to give the people something better 
than negations. He has married a Protestant lady, 
and attends Protestant service ; but whether from 
any dogmatic conviction, or as a bulwark against 
Ultramontanes, I am not sure. He is a very esti- 
mable man, well informed, earnest, slightly tiresome, 
and not at all original. 

Don't mind coming to grief over parallels. A 
disposition to detect resemblances is one of the 
greatest sources of error. To me parallels afford a 
blaze of light, but they are rare, and hard to find. 

. . . What you tell me of Mr. Gladstone's health 
is good news indeed ; and I hope you will not listen 
to his regrets about a measure contrary to the law 
of freedom. As much authority as is wanted to 
protect the few against the many or the weak 
against the strong is not contrary to freedom, but 
the condition of freedom. The disease lies in 
society, not in the state. The other view, that the 
only dangerous enemy a nation has is its gov- 
ernment, is pure revolution, and was invented by 
St. Just. 



When the accident 1 happened, the Cardwells had Cannes 

March 9 

a favourable telegram from a friend of yours, and 
we learned the news and Paget's verdict together. 

1 Mr. Gladstone fell on the ice as he entered the gardens, Downing 
Street, and cut open the back of his head. 

N 



178 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

You must have passed through terrible moments 
at first. But the best thing about it was your set- 
ting off to amuse yourself at Oxford. All England 
has been made to feel the truth of what you say, 
and Mr. Gladstone is almost the only man who 
does not ask the question : What is to be done if 
he is disabled ? 

I must give up my friend Sir Bartle at last. I 
thought he had courage and self-command ; but he 
has been showing the mean spirit of recent Toryism 
in a way I did not suspect. 

Your father's resolute adherence to principle, and 
his ascendency over weaker colleagues, will be put 
to a grievous trial by the folly of the hapless Jingo * 
Wolseley bequeathed to the new government. 

I had a cousin who travelled beyond the Vaal, 
and at last died there. He taught me to believe 
that the Boers were excellent fighting materials. 
But Sir Garnet pretends that they are liars and 
cowards, the only white race retrograding. So that 
Sir Bartle is not the only South African authority 
I must relinquish. 

I hope you really like Sir James Paget. You 
know that he is one of my Blue Roses, and makes 
up for my manifold disbeliefs in great contempo- 
raries. The author 2 of the novel just mentioned 
is here and is our amiable and hospitable neigh- 
bour. There has been such a Whip for Candahar 
that five people asked to pair with me. They are 
not, on the whole, interesting travellers, except one, 
with a handsome and over-married wife. And we 

1 Sir Bartle Frere, then Governor of Cape Colony. 2 Miss Dempster. 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 179 

have had Sir Louis Mallet, very interesting, and 1881 
very sound about Afghanistan. 

I am just off to Rome, to bring my mother-in- 
law away, who has spent the winter there, and to 
see what ten years, and a new pope and new king, 
have made of it. I am only allowed a week's holi- 
day, and must crowd a good deal into it. The Ser- 
mons x will be my first resource when I come back 
next week. Thank you, beforehand, so very much 
for them. I did not guess the secret history, and, 
after your letter, the Arms Bill was a disappoint- 
ment. When in England I convinced myself that 
there was, at that time, no threat of invasion or 
insurrection; but when I saw the Bill going on, I 
fancied " Endymion " might be right about that 
hidden danger. 

Your letter came in the middle of this one of 
mine, and I can hardly send a word of gratitude for 
such kindness. Until George Eliot I thought 
G. S. 2 the greatest writer of her sex in all literature. 
I cannot read her now. But that is individual 
taste, not deliberate judgment. She is as eloquent 
as one can be in French — the unreal, unhealthy 
eloquence that Rousseau brought in, that the Giron- 
dins spoke, that Chateaubriand, Lamennais, La- 
martine made so popular, that nobody but Hugo 
strives after now, and that was modified in her case 
by Polish influences. Some of these Frenchmen 
live on nothing else; and if one plucks them, or • 

1 " Sermons in a College Chapel," by J. R. Illingworth. 

2 George Sand. 



180 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1881 puts their thoughts into one's own language, little 
remains. But she had passion, and understood it, 
and deep sympathy, and speculative thought, and 
the power — in less degree — of creating character. 
She could rise very high, for a moment, and her 
best prose is like a passage from good poets. It is 
a splendid exhibition, diffuse, ill-regulated, fatiguing, 
monotonous. There is not the mastery, the meas- 
ure, the repose one learns from Goethe and the 
Greeks. She scatters over twenty volumes the 
resources her English rival concentrates into a 
chapter. There is beauty, but not wisdom; emo- 
tion, but not instruction ; and, except in her wonder- 
ful eye for external nature, very little truth. I would 
call her a bad Second — such as Swinburne is to 
Shelley, or Heine to Schiller — comparisons which 
involve a great deal of disparagement. 

The conversation of those three great men 1 is 
very curious — I should have liked to see and hear 
them. ... If, by chance, there was a message or 
a commission for Rome, I shall be at the H. d'Angle- 
terre until next Monday. 

Cannes Rome is the cause of all my delinquency. I 

March 23 rema i nec i a we ek, very ill with sunshine and south 
wind, but very happy, and supremely grateful for 
your letters and Illingworth's Sermons. Traveller's 
Rome is what it was ; but in the real city the change 
is like the work of centuries. The religious activity 
and appearance that were of old are gone, and their 
place is usurped by things profane. The State has 

1 Gladstone, Tennyson, and Paget. 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 181 

so thrown the Church into the background, that the 1881 
Leonine city sleeps like a faded and deserted suburb, 
and one must look behind the scenes for what used 
to be the glory and the pride of Rome. The 
bewildered Girondin 1 at the Vatican, who stands so 
well with the Castle, 2 I did not see, but heard much 
of his moderation, patience, and despair. I think 
he is the first Pope who has been wise enough to 
despair, and has felt that he must begin a new part, 
and steer by strange stars over an unknown sea. 

I found a British ambassador devoid of political 
influence and understanding, but splendidly hospita- 
ble, and good-natured even to the friends of his own 
government. Layard, after serving the Court as a 
stick to beat Paget with, had left before I came. 
Almost all my time was spent with the two friends 3 
whom you remember at a memorable examination 
at Venice, and seven days passed like hours. But 
why do I write all this ? Am I not going to see 
you soon ? I hear of a friendly yacht in the Medi- 
terranean, and of his family accompanying the P.M. 
That can only mean embarcation at Cannes. It 
will be a joy for us indeed, and nothing shall be left 
undone to make your stay here as pleasant and as 
long as possible. You will not take long to under- 
stand that it is one of the sweetest spots in Europe. 
Let this be an assured element in all your Easter 
plans, that you will find here a haven of rest and 
friends not to be surpassed in affection by any else- 
where. Tell me what rooms to take at a neighbour- 
ing snug hotel. Or do you stay at Capodimonte ? 

1 Leo XIII. 2 Dublin Castle. 3 Minghetti and Bonghi. 



182 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1881 Nothing here spoken of must be to the detriment of 
six weeks with the Professor 1 at peaceful Tegern- 
see, between August and October. 

Lecky seems to me to have composed unconscious 
of another tune running in his head. The likeness 
is greater in the description than in the reality. 
Chatham had public virtue, genius, energy, coupled 
with the magic power of transmitting it, the strength 
that comes with unselfish passion, and a grand way 
of spending popularity that others meanly hoard. 
He had few ideas, less instruction than Fox or 
Shelburne, too little political knowledge for a clear 
notion of his own place, of the stair he* stood upon 
in history, or for any definite view of the English or 
European future. I admit no comparison, 2 except 
with the Burke of 1770-80. That early Burke would 
have made the peace with the Afrikanders, which is 
the noblest work of the Ministry. 

When you seem to doubt what I think of it, you 
mean that Coercion has robbed me of my footing in 
your confidence. Four weeks ago a very eminent 
foreigner wrote to me that the discovery of the 
Afghan papers would chill your father's Russian 
sympathies. After explaining that the discovery 
was not new for ministers, I begged my friend to 
dismiss sympathies for principles, and to understand 
that there are in the world men who treat politics 
as the art of doing, on the largest scale, what is 
right; and I informed him that he would presently 
see peace made with the Boers on terms of great 
moderation, after disasters unavenged, in defiance 

1 Dr. Dollinger. 2 I.e., of Mr. Gladstone. 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 183 

of military indignation, in spite of lost prestige. 1881 
You see that I knew what I was saying. Bearing 
in mind how strong a weapon of offence is thus 
given to enemies at home, considering the strength 
the offended feelings lately showed, and the weak- 
ness that lies in the attitude of the Government 
down to the time of our defeats, I declare that I 
rejoice in this inward victory with heartier joy and 
a purer pride than I have been able to feel at any 
public event since I broke my heart over the sur- 
render of Lee. 1 

Carlyle's two volumes are crowded with grotesque 
eloquence, but they make him smaller in my eyes 
(nothing could make him worse). The account of 
Southey seems to me to do him less harm than the 
rest. " Common Sense " I read and recognised 
as Hayward. It seemed to me nearly true ; but I 
thought the Times and Temps near the truth. 

Your question about my injustice to Germany 
before 1840 touches a vital point, and you narrowly 
escape a very long answer. Scientific Germany was 
hardly born in all those years when Goethe, Schleier- 
macher, Schlegel, Richter reigned. The real, per- 
manent, commanding work of the nation has been 
done by a generation of men very many of whom I 
have known. To me it seemed that Carlyle spoke 
of great men before Agamemnon, and the bonfires 
that were good in the dark obscure the daylight. 

And there would be much to say about the appre- 
ciation of the French and German genius, and the 

1 Lord Acton said elsewhere of Lee — " The greatest general the 
world has ever seen, with the possible exception of Napoleon." 



184 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1881 unpleasant reciprocity of chilled sympathy. But 
even if I could convince you of the fact, I do not 
know the reason. Let me only say, to prove that 
I am not fearful of giving you pain, that I think 
there is some want of method in his 1 pursuit of 
foreign literature. Things come to him by a sort 
of accident, are pressed on him by some occasion, 
and are taken up with absorbing vigour, not always 
with a distinct recognition of the book's place in its 
series, of the writer's place among other writers. 
That sort of knowledge can only be obtained by 
close and constant study of reviews, by men having 
more patience than urgent steam pressure, by much 
indistinct groping and long suspense. This seems 
unreasonably confused ; yet I think you will see 
what I mean by the time we have taken a walk 
over the hill of Californie, 3 from which you gaze on 
fifty miles of the Riviera. 

To-morrow I must be away from home ; so I 
write in ignorance of your brother's speech on 
Candahar. I am sure, if he spoke on so good a 
subject, he justified Challemel. It will be a real 
privilege to hear Lowell discourse on Dante. I am 
sorry the Paradiso? which is in the press, has not 
appeared. It is a good thing for all parties that 
Lowell should be linked by more than political chains. 

The Sermons 4 have been unjustly taken by 
Wickham before I could read them; but I shall 
have them soon. I saw enough to justify all you 
said, in former letters. There is an originality 

1 Mr. Gladstone's. 2 At Cannes. 3 Scartazzini's. 

4 Illingworth's " In a College Chapel." 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 185 

about them which obliges one to think again before 1881 
acquiescing in everything. The next number of 
the Church Quarterly will be very interesting to 
me. But there will be a dreadful cold showerbath 
when the " Life " 1 appears. 

" Consuelo " is a very great novel. Afterwards 
she 2 threw herself away on Monographs. I know 
that I don't like her ; but I don't think I could ever 
have compared Miss Bronte or Miss Austen to her. 

Do you know an M.P. of the name of Lea? He 
is a rich Kidderminster carpet manufacturer, and is 
member, now, for Derry. I have seldom met a 
more thoughtful, intelligent, and satisfactory man. 
He has been to Aldenham, and I have stayed with 
him at Kidderminster, and thought him so sensible, 
so full of resource, that I should think him worth 
talking to about Ireland. . . . He was an Indepen- 
dent, and has, I think, conformed. Among your 
friends, apart from Whips, I should expect Bryce to 
know all about him. If he comes to a Tuesday I 
intreat you to remember that he has impressed me, 
and friends who are better judges than I, in a 
way not common among the people one meets in 
small provincial towns and societies. I have a good 
deal more to say, but I fancy it will lose nothing by 
waiting for the Paris Express. Meanwhile the 
great veil will be lifted from the Budget and the 
Sempronian Law, 3 and I await a rare excite- 

1 Of George Eliot. 2 George Sand. 

3 Meaning the Irish Land Bill. The reference is to the agrarian laws 
of Tib. and C. Sempronius Gracchus. 



186 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1881 ment. Keep Cannes and Tegernsee steadily in 



view. 



Cannes It was a short dream, but a pleasant one, not to 
ApnU k e q U j te f or g tten until Tegernsee fairly looms on 
us. Herbert's speech seems to me to deserve all 
the praise it brought him. That evening I met 
Henriquez, who spoke at Harrow during his can- 
vass, and who says that as a speaker, apart from 
political experience and knowledge, he has nothing 
to learn. At the beginning the Skobeleff argument 
struck me as wanting a more elaborate introduction, 
but my doubt was soon dispelled. Please tell him, 
with my hearty congratulations, that the Roman 
empire perished for want of a good Land Bill. 
That criticism 1 which Palgrave has disinterred 
makes me think of the judge who was not tied to a 
stake, and of Roger Collard's answer when asked 
whether he had called Guizot an austere intriguer : 
" I never said austere." It is rather a gift of invent- 
ing picturesque, and often grotesque epithets and 
nicknames, than general power of expression. The 
sentences are seldom good, and not comparable to 
those of the faithful Ruskin. But the man who 
called Stanley a body-snatcher deserts a monu- 
ment in Westminster Abbey. 

You must have snubbed at Lady Reay's. 

Or did he think you laughed at him ? That, you 
know, is a possible error. There is no doubt that 
the opinion others have of us is one of the very 
many sources of subtle error in our judgments 

1 On Carlyle. 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 187 

which have grown into such a prodigious catalogue 1881 
since Bacon feebly began to enumerate them. Peo- 
ple who study them, and stand on their guard 
against this particular temptation, fall easily by 
identifying themselves with their principles. It is 
almost an axiom in controversy that to attack 
one's adversary personally is to confess disbelief in 
one's cause, where doctrine and not conduct is 1 
in question. And I do see men who are person- 
ally attacked, conclude that their adversary is dis- 
honest and knows that he is in the wrong. On 
the other hand there is an institution in London 
founded on the belief that private acquaintance 
and good-fellowship soften the asperity of public 
conflicts. You know about Grillion's, where men 
dine without quarrelling, and where, by a pleasant 
fiction, no bore is supposed to live. There the 
effect is what your father says. People make op- 
ponents like them, and soften to their opponents, 
in consequence. 

I write under the shadow of Disraeli's illness. 
Our last accounts are very threatening ; and I, who 
think that the worst part of the man was his cause, 
and who liked him better than the mass of his party, 
look with dismay on the narrowness and the passion 
of those who will succeed him. He, at least, if he 
had no principles or scruples, had no prejudices or 
superstitions or fanaticism. You have heard it said 

of that he would have been a good fellow, if he 

had not been a drunkard, a liar, and a thief. With 
a few allowances ... a good deal may be said for 
the Tory leader who made England a Democracy. 



188 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1881 One must make so much allowance for so many 
public men besides Midhat. 1 

The Pope 2 probably had no clear view about 
policy. If he had, he would hardly be Pope. But 
he sees that the old spells have lost their power over 
men, and so he gives them up. It does not yet 
appear whether he knows that the power is gone 
for ever ; but visibly, for the time, he is trying new 
arts, and endeavours to restore, by conciliation and 
management, what Pius ruined by authority. The 
attempt to disengage himself from the crash of the 
Legitimists is the most remarkable instance of the 
change. He explains that the Church must not be 
so committed to any political party as to stand or 
fall with it. But that has been, since 1849, the 
entirely unvarying policy of Rome, and has forced 
all the enemies of absolute power to turn their forces 
against Catholicism. If once the two things are 
separated, there will be a great change in the posi- 
tion of things in Europe. If the Pope does not 
maintain Legitimacy he gives up the temporal power. 
He has no legal or political claim to Rome that 
Chambord has not to France, for arguments de- 
rived from Canon Law are without validity in 
politics. By weakening his one resource, he shows 
that he thinks the game is up. And then there is 
no insuperable obstacle to reconciliation with the 
Powers. Solicitude for temporal sovereignty has 
been the cause of all the faults and disasters of our 

1 Midhat Pacha was the head of the reforming party in Turkey at 
that time. 

2 Leo XIII. 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 189 

Church since the murder of Rossi. 1 To surrender 1881 
it implies such a conversion that I shall not believe 
in it till I see clearer signs ; for his chief confidant 
is the Archbishop of Capua, an old friend of mine, 
who is what Newman would be without his genius, 
his eloquence, and his instruction. 

I don't know where to stop. Capua is a bad 
stopping place. 

Don't mind my weak handwriting and brief letter, Cannes 
but I have spent most of this great parliamentary P d a a 1 " 1 Sun ' 
week in bed, and this is my first attempt to write. April 10 

I so much want to hear from you that your father 
is well and happy. The achievement seems incom- 
parable, and the policy wonderful. 2 But I am too 
confused in mind yet to understand the whole thing 
and the flight of the Thane. 3 Probably it has been 
long foreseen, and is taken almost as a victory from 
coming alone. It portends tremendous opposition 
in the Lords, unless Derby has succeeded him, 4 and 
even then. I have seen nothing but the Times — 
stormy weather delaying all English papers ; and I 
read the peroration to my family as explaining why 
the speaker is in my eyes so much the best of states- 
men. I wonder what an intelligent Socialist would 
make of the sentence which says that the Irish land- 
lords would have been guilty of injustice by appro- 

1 November 15, 1848. After the murder of Count Rossi, his Liberal 
Minister of the Interior, Pius IX. left Rome, and fled to Gaeta, from 
which he only returned under the protection of French bayonets. 

2 The introduction of the Irish Land Bill. 

3 The late Duke of Argyll's resignation. 

4 Lord Carlingford succeeded him. 



iqo LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1881 priating the results of tenant labour in improvement 
of the soil. In a rough and ready way they might 
apply the maxim to manufactories too. Then comes 
an extract from the ninth paragraph of the Bessbro' 
Report to the effect that Irish rents are lower than 
English, which might, I fancy, serve when they try 
to stop the way by getting up an agrarian move- 
ment in this country. I should add, having been 
so recalcitrant, that the Court ought to be able to 
effect what is substantially just in the Irish claims. 
I don't much believe in peasant proprietorship ; but 
I should like much done for emigration, and have 
not been converted from what he said about that 
in 1845. The threatening close of the eleventh 1 
Budget speech must not, I hope, be taken literally 

— not only because the Budget, laid down on partly 
Tory lines, is not a very great one ; partly because 
the speech is full of promise and suggestion, and 
even menace ; also because the only successor whose 
succession would not seriously weaken the ministry, 
Goschen, declared his resolution not to join it when 
he returns. . . . 

You will not have had time to read French 
newspapers and academic speeches. They elected 
Rousse, 2 a lawyer, not famous, but much trusted 
by the expelled monks. Falloux was not ashamed 
to say to me : " au moins, c'est un honnete homme 

— chose precieuse aujourd'hui." His speech was 
an exquisite composition. But d'Aumale, in his 
reply, said that Cicero was a much better man than 
Demosthenes — in politics. I hope that sentiment 

1 Mr. Gladstone's eleventh. 2 To the Academy. 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 191 

would vex your father, the one man who has the 1881 
right to pronounce between them. A good historian 
says of Demosthenes : " Er war Idealist und iiber- 
schatzte in gefahrvollen Zeiten die Wirkung sitt- 
licher Krafte." 

I am anxiously watching the change of ministry 
in Italy, where I saw this mischief brewing so lately. 
A worse administration than the present seemed to 
me almost inconceivable. They avowed the doctrine 
that there is no resisting the priesthood except by 
definite Spencerianism ; and that whatever is given 
to God goes to the Pope. . . . 

. . . Your welcome and consoling handwriting La 
quickly followed by the appearance of Wolverton Madeleine 
fresh from home, brought me all I was wishing for 
almost as soon as my letter was gone. Thank you 
so much for knowing so well what one is thinking of. 

We rather expect Argyll to take refuge here too 
during these holidays. 

The Pall Mall is worth anything for its concen- 
trated essence of opinion. Much of this is stupid. 
But the accusation begun by Argyll — that the 
measure abandons the old lines on which the Liberal 
party won its battles, introduces new principles not 
tested yet by the experience of nations, and begins, 
in short, a new departure — is one that will be urged 
with great force and some truth, and it will not do 
to disguise the magnitude of the change. The sus- 
picion that the P.M. was changing on the two 1 
greatest of all political questions comes true after 

1 See p. 145. 



192 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1881 all; and I wonder which of the twenty-two texts 
was in the ascendant when I thought myself con- 
victed of false prophecy! 

I don't feel to know how much German Herbert 
reads, for I don't rely on what he picked up at Tegern- 
see. But I want to draw his attention, if it avails, 
to one literary matter. 

Within the last ten or twelve years there has been 
a wonderful change in political economy in the 
direction of which Laveleye, Ingram, Cliffe Leslie 
are popular exponents, arid which Sherbrooke and 
Bonamy Price anathematise. The essential point 
is the history and analysis of property in land. It 
is important that our people should be exactly 
acquainted with these views and results before the 
debate comes on. Two volumes contain all that 
it is necessary to read : — 

Roscher, National oekonomik des Ackerbaus, and 
Wagner's Grundlegung der Volkswirthschaft. 

He that has read these two books knows a good 
deal about the lines on which Society is moving that 
he cannot well discover elsewhere. 

You will not agree with me in rejoicing that 
Cairns * has done himself so much credit at the same 
moment when Salisbury has injured himself seriously 
by his offer of Tunisian hush money. All this fe a 
misfortune for the Italians, as they cannot have a rea- 
sonable ministry with the present Parliament, and 
the circle is closing round them. Perhaps it will 
teach them to dismiss ambition. 

1 The first Lord Cairns. 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 193 

Punch's Irish landlord spoils a very old Italian 1881 
story. The poet Mortola, out of envy, shot at an- 
other poet and missed him. He had to get relieved 
of his excommunication by the Pope, and his con- 
fession was : " E vero, Santo Padre, ho fallito." * . . . 

I am not sure that there is any quite available and Cannes 
compendious answer to the two reproaches of setting 
the poor against the rich, and of giving power to 
those least fit for it. There lurks in each an atom 
of inevitable truth ; and the sententious arguments 
which serve to dazzle people at elections may gen- 
erally be met by epigrams just as sparkling and as 
sound on the other side. Politics are so complex 
that almost every act may be honestly seen in very 
different lights ; and I can imagine so strong a case 
against our African policy as to drive from his 
moorings any man not well anchored in justice. 

Assuming that the first objection culminates in 
Midlothian : it was necessary to bring home to the 
constituencies, to needy and ignorant men, the fact 
that Society, the wealthy ruling class, that supported 
our late Mazarin 2 in clubs and drawing-rooms, was 
ready to spend the treasure and the blood of the 
people in defence of an infamous tyranny, 3 to gratify 
pride, the love of authority, and the lust of power. 
Nearly the same situation arose in Ireland, and in 
other questions not so urgent. Secondly, as to 
Democracy, it is true that masses of new electors 
are utterly ignorant, that they are easily deceived 

1 "It is true, Holy Father, I have failed." 

2 Lord Beaconsfield. 3 The Sultan's. 



194 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1881 by appeals to prejudice and passion, and are con- 
sequently unstable, and that the difficulty of ex- 
plaining economic questions to them, and of linking 
their interests with those of the State, may become 
a danger to the public credit, if not to the security 
of private property. A true Liberal, as distinguished 
from a Democrat, keeps this peril always before him. 

The answer is, that you cannot make an omelette 
without breaking eggs — that politics are not made 
up of artifices only, but of truths, and that truths 
have to be told. 

We are forced, in equity, to share the government 
with the working class by considerations which were 
made supreme by the awakening of political econ- 
omy. Adam Smith set up two propositions — that 
contracts ought to be free between capital and 
labour, and that labour is the source, he sometimes 
says the only source, of wealth. If the last sen- 
tence, in its exclusive form, was true, it was difficult 
to resist the conclusion that the class on which 
national prosperity depends ought to control the 
wealth it supplies, that is, ought to govern instead 
of the useless unproductive class, and that the class 
which earns the increment ought to enjoy it. That 
is the foreign effect of Adam Smith — French 
Revolution and Socialism. We, who reject that 
extreme proposition, cannot resist the logical pres- 
sure of the other. If there is a free contract, in open 
market, between capital and labour, it cannot be 
right that one of the two contracting parties should 
have the making of the laws, the management of the 
conditions, the keeping of the peace, the administra- 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 195 

tion of justice, the distribution of taxes, the control 1881 
of expenditure, in its own hands exclusively. It is 
unjust that all these securities, all these advantages, 
should be on the same side. It is monstrous that 
they should be all on the side that has least urgent 
need of them, that has least to lose. Before this 
argument, the ancient dogma, that power attends on 
property, broke down. Justice required that prop- 
erty should — not abdicate, but — share its political 
supremacy. Without this partition, free contract 
was as illusory as a fair duel in which one man sup- 
plies seconds, arms, and ammunition. 

That is the flesh and blood argument. That is 
why Reform, full of questions of expediency and 
policy in detail, is, in the gross, not a question of 
expediency or of policy at all; and why some of us 
regard our opponents as men who should imagine 
sophisms to avoid keeping promises, paying debts, 
or speaking truths. 

They will admit much of my theory, but then 
they will say, like practical men, that the ignorant 
classes cannot understand affairs of state, and are 
sure to go wrong. But the odd thing is that the 
most prosperous nations in the world are both gov- 
erned by the masses — France and America. So 
there must be a flaw in the argument somewhere. 
The fact is that education, intelligence, wealth, are a 
security against certain faults of conduct, not against 
errors of policy. There is no error so monstrous 
that it fails to find defenders among the ablest men. 
Imagine a congress of eminent celebrities, such as 
More, Bacon, Grotius, Pascal, Cromwell, Bossuet, 



196 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1881 Montesquieu, Jefferson, Napoleon, Pitt, &c. The 
result would be an Encyclopaedia of Error. They 
would assert Slavery, Socialism, Persecution, Divine 
Right, Military despotism, the reign of force, the 
supremacy of the executive over legislation and 
justice, purchase in the magistracy, the abolition of 
credit, the limitation of laws to nineteen years, &c. 
If you were to read Walter Scott's pamphlets, 
Southey's Colloquies, Ellenborough's Diary, Wel- 
lington's Despatches — distrust of the select few, of 
the chosen leaders of the community, would displace 
the dread of the masses. The danger is not that a 
particular class is unfit to govern. Every class is 
unfit to govern. The law of liberty tends to abolish 
the reign of race over race, of faith over faith, of 
class over class. It is not the realisation of a politi- 
cal ideal : it is the discharge of a moral obligation. 
However that may be, the transfer of power to the 
lower class was not the act of Mr. Gladstone, but of 
the Conservatives in 1867. It still requires to be 
rectified and regulated ; but I am sure that in his 
hands, the change would have been less violent. 

Nor do I admit the other accusation, of rousing 
class animosities. The upper class used to enjoy 
undivided sway, and used it for their own advantage, 
protecting their interests against those below them, 
by laws which were selfish and often inhuman. 
Almost all that has been done for the good of the 
people has been done since the rich lost the mo- 
nopoly of power, since the rights of property were 
discovered to be not quite unlimited. Think not only 
of the Corn Laws, but of the fact that the State did 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 197 

nothing for primary education fifty years ago. 1881 
The beneficent legislation of the last half century 
has been due to the infusion of new elements in the 
electoral body. Success depended on preventing the 
upper class from recovering their lost ground, by 
keeping alive in the masses the sense of their 
responsibility, of their danger, of the condition from 
which they had been rescued, of the objects still 
before them, and the ancient enemy behind. Lib- 
eral policy has largely consisted in so promoting this 
feeling of self-reliance and self-help, that political 
antagonism should not degenerate into social envy, 
that the forces which rule society should be separate 
from the forces which rule the state. No doubt the 
line has not always been broadly marked between 
Liberalism where it borders on Radicalism, and 
Radicalism where it borders on the Charter. Some 
reproach may visit Bright and Mill, but not Mr. 
Gladstone. If there were no Tories, I am afraid he 
would invent them. He has professed himself a 
decided Inequalitarian. 1 I cannot discover that he 
has ever caressed the notion of progressive taxation. 
Until last year I don't think he ever admitted that 
we have to legislate not quite impartially for the 
whole nation, but for a class so numerous as to be 
virtually equal to the whole. He dispels the con- 
flict of classes by cherishing the landed aristocracy, 
and making the most of it in office. He has 
granted the Irish landlords an absolution ampler 
than they deserve. Therefore, though I admit that 
the condition of English society tends in some 

1 See Diary in Ruskin's "Letters to M. and H. G." (privately printed).. 



198 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1881 measure to make the poor regard the rich as their 
enemies, and that the one inveterate obstacle to the 
welfare of the masses is the House of Lords, yet I 
must add that he whose mission it is to overcome 
that interested resistance has been scrupulous not to 
excite passionate resentment, and to preserve what 
he cannot correct. And I do not say it altogether 
in his praise. 

It is the law of party government that we con- 
tend on equal terms, and claim no privilege. We 
assume the honesty of our opponents, whatever we 
think or know. Kenealy and Bradlaugh must be 
treated with consideration, like Wilberforce or 
Macaulay. We do not use private letters, reported 
conversations, newspaper gossip, or scandals re- 
vealed in trials to damage troublesome politicians. 
We deal only with responsibility for public acts. 
But with these we must deal freely. We have to 
keep the national conscience straight and true, and 
if we shrink from doing this because we dare not 
cast obloquy on class or party or institution, then 
we become accomplices in wrong-doing, and very 
possibly in crime. 

We ought not to employ vulgar imputations, that 
men cling to office, that they vote against their 
convictions, that they are not always consistent, &c. 
All that is unworthy of imperial debate. But 
where there is a question of unjust war, or annex- 
ation, of intrigue, of suppressed information, of 
mismanagement in matters of life and death, of 
disregard for suffering, we are bound to gibbet the 
offender before the people of England, and to make 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 199 

the rude workman understand and share our indig- 1881 
nation against the grandee. Whether he ought, 
after that, to be left to Dean Stanley 1 is another 
question. 

But I am not surprised at the complaint you 
heard. To many people the idea is repugnant that 
there is a moral question at the bottom of politics. 
They think that it is only by great effort and the 
employment of every resource that property and 
religion can be maintained. If you embarrass their 
defence with unnecessary rules and scruples, you 
risk defeat, and set up a rather arbitrary and un- 
sanctioned standard above the interest of their class 
or of their church. Such men are not at their ease 
with the Prime Minister, especially if he is against 
them, and even when they are on his side. I am 
thinking of Argyll in Lytton's first debate ; of Kim- 
berley always ; of soldiers and diplomatists generally. 

Whilst you find Conservatives surprised at the 
moderation of the Bill, I have had the pleasure of 
meeting two members of the Government who 
think it goes much too far. And now the papers an- 
nounce two more impending secessions. 2 I really 
don't know what is to become of us in the Lords. 

The Pall Mall resumes of Lord Beaconsfield 
have been intensely interesting. None seemed to 
me too severe, but some were shocking at the 
moment. He was quite remarkable enough to fill 
a column of Eloge. Some one wrote to me yester- 
day that no Jew for 1800 years has played so great 
a part in the world. That would be no Jew since 

1 For burial in the Abbey. 2 Lord Lansdowne's and Lord Listowel's. 



200 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1881 St. Paul; and it is very startling. But, putting 
aside literature, and therefore Spinoza and Heine, 
almost simultaneously with Disraeli, a converted 
Jew, Stahl, a man without birth or fortune, became 
the leader of the Prussian Conservative and aris- 
tocratic party. He led them from about 1850 to 
i860, when he died; and he was intellectually far 
superior to Disraeli — I should say, the greatest 
reasoner that has ever served the Conservative 
cause. But he never obtained power, or determined 
any important event. Lassalle died after two years 
of agitation. Benjamin, 1 the soul of the Confederate 
ministry, now rising to the first rank of English 
lawyers, had too short and too disastrous a public 
career. In short, I have not yet found an answer. 

I think, failing sons and secretaries, it is really 
important that the P.M. should set somebody in 
Downing Street to read Wagner's Grundlegung. 
It would be a great advantage to an outsider if he 
were to get it up, and to know exactly where the 
agrarian question now stands in Europe, both as to 
theory and practice. It is an exceedingly able, bold, 
and original book, and the author occupies, at 
Berlin, the first chair of Pol. Economy in Germany. 
I would even venture to ask you to mention it to 
him, as flotsam from the Riviera. 

La Like you I am sorry for the omission 2 on 

Maddeine Mondayj and f Qr the sequel tQ ft next week> The 

1 Judah Philip Benjamin, Q.C., author of "Benjamin on Sales." 
He left America after the defeat of the South, and attained great dis- 
tinction at the English Bar. 

2 Mr. Gladstone did not arrive in time after the Easter recess to give 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 201 

homage of the House in which he was so long dis- 1881 
tinguished was due to Disraeli, and it would have 
been a fit occasion for a panegyric which might 
have appeared natural and informal. The Monu- 
ment is a homage paid by the nation, demanding 
more than parliamentary or other intellectual dis- 
tinction, and implying public service of some ex- 
ceptional merit and amount. This is wanting in 
Disraeli. And we deem not only that the good 
was absent, but that the bad, the injurious, the im- 
moral, the disgraceful, was present on a large scale. 
Let us praise his genius, his wit, his courage, his 
patience and constancy in adversity, his strength of 
will, his originality and independence of mind, the 
art with which he learned to be eloquent, his occa- 
sional largeness of conception, his frequent good 
nature and fidelity to friends, his readiness of re- 
source, his considerable literary culture, his skill in 
the management of a divided and reluctant party, 
even his superiority to the greed of office; let us 
even call him the greatest Jewish minister since 
Joseph — but if we say that he deserved the grati- 
tude of the nation, and might claim his reward 
from every part of it, I am afraid we condemn our- 
selves. This feeling will certainly be expressed out 
of doors, if not in the House, and will not only mar 
the general effect, but will almost seem to have 
been provoked, by the formality and the postpone- 
ment. Its existence in any considerable measure is 

notice of his own motion for a public memorial to Lord Beaconsfield, 
who died on the 19th of April 1881. The notice was given on Mr. 
Gladstone's behalf by Lord Richard Grosvenor (now Lord Stalbridge). 



202 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1881 a reason against doing what offends many con- 
sciences, and is gracious only when all but unani- 
mous. Personally it will be a great opportunity for 
your father. I am afraid I deplore it from every 
other point of view. 

Here is Lord Morley going home to-morrow, and 
much to be envied. If you see him, he will tell you 
that Cannes is a very nice place indeed. I see, by 
the way things are going, that the Land Bill is 
pretty safe in the Commons; but I wonder how 
much ascendency Northcote has with his colleagues 
elsewhere. . . . 

La The defect of the argument is that it will neither 

Madeieme wear nor wasn# ft ca nnot be employed in public. 
Nobody can say : — "I who overthrew Lord Bea- 
consfield's ministry, reversed his policy, persuaded 
the nation to distrust him, and brought his career to 
a dishonoured end — I who, altogether disagreeing 
with a certain friend of mine, thought his doctrines 
false, but the man more false than his doctrine ; who 
believe that he demoralised public opinion, bargained 
with diseased appetites, stimulated passions, preju- 
dices, and selfish desires, that they might maintain 
his influence ; that he weakened the Crown by 
approving its unconstitutional leanings, and the Con- 
stitution by offering any price for democratic popu- 
larity, — who, privately, deem him the worst and 
most immoral minister since Castlereagh, and have 
branded him with a stigma such as no other public 
man has deserved in my time, — nevertheless pro- 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 203 

ceed, in my public capacity, to lock my true senti- 1881 
ments in my breast, and declare him worthy of a 
reward that was not paid to Fox or to Canning; 
worthy not only of the tribute due to talents, effi- 
ciency, and courage, but of enduring gratitude and 
honour; and I do it because I am not the leader 
of the nation, but the appointed minister of its will ; 
because it is my office to be the mouthpiece of 
opinions I disapprove, to obey an impulse I con- 
demn, to execute the popular wishes when they 
contradict my own." 

That is a position which cannot be held, a motive 
impossible to avow. But then there is no answer to 
Labouchere when he recalls the scathing denuncia- 
tions of last year and asks "whether they were 
seriously meant, or whether, having served their pur- 
pose, they have been abandoned and committed to 
oblivion ; whether the Prime Minister declares their 
injustice and invites the country to join him in mak- 
ing reparation, whether the responsibilities of power 
have effected the usual transformation from the exi- 
gencies of electioneering agitation, and whether we 
are to understand that the career of Lord Beacons- 
field appears in a different light to those who have 
inherited his difficulties and have learned to appre- 
ciate his aims, from that which blazed on so many 
platforms. If the Rt. Honble. gentleman maintains 
his maledictions, if his soul is still vexed by the mem- 
ory of disgraceful peace and disgraceful war, of tyr- 
anny protected, of bloodshed unavenged, then let 
him not forget the picture which he drew, which still 
dwells in the hearts of millions ; the praise that comes 



204 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

18S1 from the lips that uttered those burning words must 
be hollow, for the soul cannot be there ; it would be 
better that he left the task to more congenial hands, 
to some who could speak from the fulness of the 
heart, to some less prominent critic of Tory policy, 
to some less austere apostle of national duty." 

The nation, it is true, supported Lord Beacons- 
field, but the same nation also very decidedly con- 
demned and rejected him. The author of the 
rejection is the worst possible mouthpiece of the 
former approval. And in a question which is really 
one of morals everybody must judge and act for him- 
self. If the degradation of public principle spread 
from Lord Beaconsfield to his party, and from them 
to the Liberals, to whom are we to look for a stricter 
spirit and a loftier standard ? Is it for him who, as 
a volunteer, stemmed the tide of corruption, to ride 
on it now that all authority, moral, political, personal, 
is concentrated in him ? No doubt, the opposition 
will be overdone; but there are materials which 
a light and skilful hand, P. J. Smyth, for instance, 
might use with telling force. 

I will propose a double Cartoon : The P.M. pro- 
posing the monument, correct, slightly white-chok- 
ered, wearing what Whiteside called his oratorical 
face, making the splendour of words do duty for 
realities — and the Philippic Demosthenes of Mid- 
lothian rousing the sleepy Lion with tumultuous 
argument and all the unceremonious energy of a 
deep conviction. 

As to Lord Granville's motion on the same sub- 
ject, I am not sorry to be out of the way of it. 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 205 

To " sweep away " the House of Lords would be 1881 
a terrible revolution. The more truly the House 
of Commons comes to represent the real nation, 
the more it must fall under the influence of opinion 
out of doors. It has less and less a substantive and 
independent will of its own, and serves as a barome- 
ter to register the movement going on outside. 
Now the opinion of a whole nation differs from 
that of any limited or united or homogeneous class 
by its inconstancy. It is not pervaded by one com- 
mon interest, trained to the same level, or inspired 
by one set of ideas. It is rent by contending mo- 
tives, and its ideas cannot get a firm grip because 
there is nothing solid to lay hold of. The whole is 
not more sure to go wrong than a part, but it is 
sure not to go long the same way. This sort of 
fluctuation which is unavoidable in the nation has 
to be kept out of the state, for it would destroy its 
credit, its influence abroad, and its authority at 
home. Therefore, the more perfect the representa- 
tive system, the more necessary is some other aid 
to stability. Six or seven such aids have been 
devised, and we unite three of them in our House 
of Lords — Primogeniture, Established Church, and 
an independent judiciary. Its note is Constancy — 
the wish to carry into the future the things of the 
past, the capacity to keep aloof from the strife and 
aims of the passing hour. As we have none of the 
other resources proper to unmixed governments, a 
real veto, a federation of states, or a constitution 
above the legislature, we must treasure the one 
security we possess.. A single assembly has an 



206 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1881 immense preponderance of authority and experi- 
ence against it. Chamberlain would soon bring 
it under the control of instructions, that is, would 
convert it into a democratic engine, and the empire, 
I apprehend, would go to pieces. 

The worst anybody can imagine is a modification 
of the House of Lords, such as would make it less 
independent, less affected by tradition, less united 
in one interest, but more intelligent and, probably, 
more powerful. That seems to me possible, though 
difficult, and uncertain and hazardous in an infinite 
degree. I do not plead for this, but I cannot set 
myself absolutely and irrevocably against it. The 
House of Lords represents one great interest — 
land. A body that is held together by a common 
character and has common interests is necessarily 
disposed to defend them. Individuals are accessi- 
ble to motives that do not reach multitudes, and 
may be on they; guard against themselves. But a 
corporation, according to a profound saying, has 
neither body to kick nor soul to save. The princi- 
ple of self-interest is sure to tell upon it. The 
House of Lords feels a stronger duty towards its 
eldest sons than towards the masses of ignorant, 
vulgar, and greedy people. Therefore, except under 
very perceptible pressure, it always resists measures 
aimed at doing good to the poor. It has been 
almost always in the wrong — sometimes from 
prejudice and fear and miscalculation, still oftener 
from instinct and self-preservation. Generally it 
does only a temporary injury, and that is its plea 
for existence. But the injury may be irreparable. 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 207 

And if we have manifest suffering, degradation, and 1881 
death on one side, and the risk of a remodelled sen- 
ate on the other, the certain evil outweighs the 
contingent danger. For the evil that we appre- 
hend cannot be greater than the evil we know. 

I hope the Drawing-room was not very cloudy. 
Why did not you sit next Lord Granville ? He 
would have been less deaf. 

. . . The arrest of Dillon will produce its effect 
in the House and on the action of his colleagues, 
and may be a source of new difficulties. But I 
cannot find fault with it, not even with the prose- 
cution of Most, 1 although Harcourt is in disgrace. 

. . . takes the line natural in a newspaper, and 

does not choose to distinguish murder from insur- 
rection — a besetting sin of democrats. 

... I thought his 2 speech on the 2jid Reading 8 Tegermee 
admirable, but for the allusion 4 to the larger meas- J une3 
ure the Tories would have to bring in, which might 
put Shaw & Co. into some difficulty. 

They say that Lenbach has gone on painting 
him, and has succeeded admirably, but that the 
likeness is severe and depressing. 

Lord Granville told me of his Roman troubles, 

1 Convicted at the Old Bailey for incitement to the murder of the 
German Emperor. 

2 Mr. Gladstone's. 

3 Of the Irish Land Bill. 

4 Mr. Gladstone predicted that, if the Conservatives defeated the Bill 
and came into office, they would themselves introduce not a smaller, but 
a larger measure. 



208 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1881 and I had to give an opinion, which was not that 
of the importunate widow. But a representative so 
foolish and so hostile would have been more danger- 
ous at St. Petersburg than at Rome, where he is 
only throwing away the mighty influence of your 
father's name, but where there is not critical interest 
at stake. Lord G. seems to me to have done well 
about Tunis ; but I am sorry I wasted my eulogy 
on B. St. Hilaire. 

The Contemporary was very interesting. There 
was a saying of Carlyle that Germany had produced 
nothing since Goethe, which confirmed what I said 
to you about the limit of his information. I don't 
know who Shirley 1 is; but the small divine 2 
amused me very much, and his article would have 
been just and good if it had not ended by implying 
that the judgment of the late elections settles the 
question of right — a sentiment fit for Gambetta 
and the punch-drinking politicians of Cahors. 

You asked me the other day a perplexing ques- 
tion, suggested, less by the loss in the house of your 
friend, than by the observation that men are pas- 
sionately fond of talking about themselves, and 
practising autobiographical arts. My answer must 
be what you anticipated. Being refused at Cam- 
bridge, and driven to foreign universities, I never 
had any contemporaries, but spent years in looking 
for men wise enough to solve the problems that 
puzzled me, not in religion or politics so much as 

1 Sir John Skelton, K.C.B., author of " Thalassa," Scottish disciple 
of Disraeli, a brilliant and scholarly writer. 

2 Canon Maccoll. 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 209 

along the wavy line between the two. So I was 1881 
always associated with men a generation older than 
myself, most of whom died early — for me — and 
all of whom impressed me with the same moral, that 
one must do one's learning and thinking for one- 
self, without expecting short cuts or relying on 
other men. And that led to the elaborate detach- 
ment, the unamiable isolation, the dread of personal 
influences, which you justly censure. 

Please write that censure is not anger, and tell 
me what you are all doing, what the prospects are, 
how much social trouble you take, and whether you 
liked Matthew Arnold and his airs. . . . 

Your letter has been indeed a joy in the midst of Munich 
trouble. 1 You have understood so much of what it 0ct ' * 3 
is hard to write. . . . 

She has taken with her one of the strongest links 
that attached me to this world, but I do not follow 
less keenly the movements of the man who, of all 
now living, has the greatest power of doing good. 
The Irish speech on Friday, and the economic 
speech on Saturday, made the strongest impression 
on me. 

I fancy the man who attacked the calculation of 
national profit in the latter, misunderstood his own 
case, and might have made something of it if he 
had spoken of the distribution, not of the increase, 
of wealth. The treatment of Home Rule as an 
idea conceivably reasonable, which was repeated at 

1 The death of a little daughter. 



210 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1881 Guildhall, delighted me. I felt less sure of the dis- 
tinction between that as a colourable scheme, and 
the Land League, as now working, as one alto- 
gether revolutionary and evil. At least, the cen- 
sure and arrest of Parnell made me regret more 
than ever the monument and the eulogy of Dis- 
raeli. But then, you know that' that is my favourite 
heresy. 

What has most struck me in these speeches of 
the Recess is that they do almost more than the 
parliamentary oratory to make the whole country 
familiar with Mr. Gladstone's ways of thought, and 
to° stamp his mind on the nation. I fear they must 
be fatiguing to him, because I have always thought 
that he found an intellectual audience most easy to 
deal with. In the Palmerstonian days I remember 
your brother 1 asking me at Twickenham what I 
thought of our prospects ; and I answered that the 
Chancellor of the Exchequer did not water his wine 
enough. And I believe he thought me a fool. But 
it was quite true : he tried to make us understand 
his figures, in the House; but he did not much 
unfold his thoughts for the public ; and I used to 
be surprised to find that men who knew him well, 
Lord Granville, Argyll, 2 S. Wilberforce, saw neither 
the connection nor the consequence of his ideas. 
This is so much altered now, that he does not dis- 
like to sit for his mental portrait, and his philosophy 
of government is the study of thousands. So he 
is moulding the mind of the nation as no man ever 
did. 

1 W. H. Gladstone, M.P. 2 The late Duke of Argyll. 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 211 

I wonder whether you will have patience to talk 1881 
to me about him at Cannes ? We are just starting 
for the Madeleine, through Switzerland. . . . 



What might, possibly, be done in a moment of La 

Ma 
Oct. 27 



triumph, 1 would be desertion and disaster to the J ""'" 



party at any other moment. Nobody can hope that 
next Easter, or for a couple of years, we can be alto- 
gether crowned with laurel. In the presence of 
Mr. Gladstone himself the Tories are recovering 
spirits. They would take a leap forward if Achilles 
was safe in his tent. 

That is so clear to any one looking below the 
surface that it suggests another objection — there 
might be an appearance of retreat at the first turn- 
ing of the tide, of an inclination to escape, individu- 
ally, from a prospect of losing battles and declining 
prosperity, and to leave others to face the renewal 
of disintegration and reaction, such as we saw in 
1873. I know that this is not a consideration 
where duty is visibly concerned; but it is a valid 
consideration where policy is concerned. And it 
must be remembered that he may resign office but 
cannot abandon power. 

Herbert's constituents 2 were probably more deeply 
impressed than I was by the repeated, but too sug- 
gestive, eulogy on Hartington and Lord Granville. 
Has Mr Gladstone fairly faced the question, What 
will the party do without him? I may quote my 
own sentiment, because I grew up among Russells, 

1 Mr. Gladstone's retirement. 2 At Leeds. 



212 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1881 Ellices, Byngs; and though I am very suspicious 
of early impressions and of doctrines unaccounted 
for, I know I am much more favourable to the great 
Whig connection, to the tradition of Locke and 
Somers, Adam Smith and Burke and Macaulay, 
than Mr. Gladstone would like. Yet it would seem 
dust and ashes, but for him. . . . The idea that 
politics is an affair of principle, that it is an affair 
of morality, that it touches eternal interests as much 
as vices and virtues do in private life, that idea will 
not live in the party. Indeed, it is already over- 
shadowed by the Beaconsfield monument, described 
by that prophet, Pope. 1 

Besides, the party would become unable, from 
internal divisions, to govern the country. I take 
the letter to be a recognition of the fact that the 
P.M. ought to be in the House of Commons. In 
that case it is on the cards that Lord Granville 
would retire at the same time. Where should we 
be in the Lords, if neither Argyll, nor Derby, nor 
Lord G. sat on the Treasury Bench ; if Northbrook, 
Carlingford, and Kimberley were left to face Salis- 
bury and Cairns ? And then, if Selborne resigns 
the woolsack, and it becomes necessary to choose 
a Chancellor for his debating power ? The future 
is as gloomy in the Commons with Bright and your 
father away, Goschen out of office, Hartington 
liable, any day, to leave it. In both cases we come 
to the level of mediocrity ; we depend on the second 
rank. . . . 

The new constituency gives increased weight to 

1 Like some tall bully, lifts its head and lies. 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 213 

the Democratic leaders, and it will be impossible for 1881 
the Whigs to control them or to do without them. 
They will force their programme on the party by 
keeping it out of office until they prevail. This 
must come sooner or later. But Mr. Gladstone 
ought not to retire until he has provided for the 
future of the party he has remodelled. With re- 
spect to persons, if he does not bring Derby and 
Goschen in, nobody else can. As to Goschen — 
whose position will be a considerable one, as the 
best financier of the party, afterwards - — it has been 
unfortunate that the overtures were not made by 
the P.M. himself. They would have been far more 
flattering ; probably also more clear and definite. 
The measure 1 he objects to is considerably post- 
poned. The way is crowded with bills on which 
he agrees with ministers. 

As to Derby, I hope to learn all about your 
visit, 2 how you get on with her, and whether you 
all took care to acknowledge her good influence 
and services. There will never be any great inti- 
macy between him and your father. But, in his 
proper place, he could be made very useful. 

There is something graver than the question of 
persons. There is his own Church policy, the 
Eastern — especially Egyptian and Armenian ques- 
tion, the decentralisation of H. of Commons busi- 
ness, redistribution of seats, and ever so much more. 
I should like him to see more of the Prince of 
Wales, 8 that something of his influence should 
survive in the Royal Family. And his present 

1 The County Franchise Bill. 2 To Knowsley. 8 The King. 



214 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1881 power is such that there will be a real failure 
in his career if he retires without employing it 
to secure the future of the party. It would be 
wasting or burying the fortune of Rothschild, 
the most enormous capital ever collected in one 
hand. 

The resistance to G. Eliot, the preference for 

Scott, the desire to confide in , are all one and 

the same thing : idealism. When Disraeli sat down 
exclaiming, " The time will come when you will hear 
me," his neighbour slapped him on the back and 
said, " So they will." That encouraging neighbour 

was . He can never take to a man of strong 

principle and purpose. He is little better than a 
vague Jingo : and he is the most indiscreet, and not 
the most accurate of men. To trust him with such 
a secret is like rejecting G. Eliot as cynical, gloomy, 
and uncharitable in her views of life. A man can 
be trusted only up to low-water mark. There is just 
one thing on which the P.M. is wilfully a little 
superficial ! 

Private Secretaries have no time for letters of 
their own ; otherwise I think with pleasure of your 
new occupation. Don't let it tire you. In many 
ways it will interest you ; and J. S. Mill would 
highly have approved of it, as portending an end to 
the subjection of women. 

Please let me beg that you will not read anony- 
mous communications. If you receive any, I think 
they ought to go to the police. Not, of course, to 
Mr. Gladstone. What he does not mind himself 
might worry him being sent to you. 






LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 215 

I am sorry to have lost the Knowsley letters, as I 1881 
know something of your accounts of country houses. La 
The envelope raised expectations which added to Madeleine 
my disappointment; for there was no danger that 
the dulness of the company would affect the record. 
The newspaper list of visitors surprised me. . . . 

The point, however, is the good impression which 
Derby made during their walk, as there was no pre- 
vious liking. 

Your suggestion of a visit to Hawarden is as 
tempting as it is kind. I should like nothing so 
much if I thought it suited Mr. and Mrs. Gladstone ; 
but at this moment I am wanted, sadly wanted, here ; 
and the ingenious indiscretion of somebody has pro- 
voked a demonstration more impressive than any 
arguments of mine. It has shown what the triumph 
of the Tories, what the helplessness of the Liberals, 
would be. Mr. Gladstone must see now that his 
resolution must depend on facts, and not on wishes. 
What he is to the cause and the party I fear he will 
never understand. 

Touching the future, I can abate nothing of what 
I said. It is odd, especially for me to say, who often 
disagree with him in maxims if not in aims, but you 
undervalue him in comparison with other men. Is 
it the strife in the Cabinet, the defection of friends, 
the zeal of opponents, the slow growth of results, the 
versatility of popular feeling, the coldness of conti- 
nental opinion, that depresses you ? or is it Morley's 
book ? 1 T. B. Potter has just arrived, I hope with 
a copy for me. I see from the extracts that it is a 

i" The Life of Cobden." 



216 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1881 piece of very superior work. At first I expected an 
oblique attack on your father, as a dilatory and 
inconsistent convert, prompted by Cobden's long 
distrust, by Bright's early denunciations, by the 
aversion of literal economists, of Equalitarian 
Democrats, of stubborn unbelievers in those quali- 
ties which raise him above the highest level of 
Liberalism. But I can fancy that you might be 
impressed by so vigorous, sincere, and complete a 
system of politics very distinct from his own. The 
lieutenants of Alexander, Napoleon and his Mar- 
shals, are the only fit comparisons to describe the 
interval between the P.M. and the best of those 
who come next to him. 

We lose a weak, an ornamental, an unstable, but 

patriotic man in . As he has been the guiltiest 

misleader in ecclesiastical questions, his retirement 
is appropriate at the moment when we are trying to 
get the ear of the Pope. There are, of course, better 
reasons for that just now than the state of Ireland, 
and I think he (the Pope) deserves the kind of help 
it must give him. His impulses seem almost 
always right, whilst his execution, depending on 
others, and requiring force of character as well as 
good intentions, is generally poor and shabby. 
If the Powers had been quicker to understand 
how strongly he contrasts with his predecessor 
they might have enabled him to prevail against 
his court. 

John O'Hagan, the chief of the new Land Court, 
is a man whom I tried to bring forward, and made 
much of in the beginning of his career. He has 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 217 

the stamp of 1848 upon him as deep as Duffy, 1 and 1881 
I found him rather literary than politic, more full 
of good and gracious aspiration than practical and 
solid. The Court has done two things which must, 
I imagine, raise doubts at Hawarden. They under- 
take to fix a rent such as will fairly enable a man to 
live — that is a rule which would reduce rent per 
acre in proportion to the smallness of the holding, 
and would extinguish it altogether in the smallest. 
And they judge not by the land and buildings, but 
by the capacity of the tenant — that will lead them 
to do more for the worse farmer and less for the 
better. On the other hand, it is terrible to read that 
farmers cultivating 20 or 30 acres never eat butcher's 
meat. In France I find that the families of day 
labourers have meat for dinner every day. I am 
told that there is scarcely an exception. 

Hawarden after Knowsley must have been a 
relief, especially with Lightfoot, Goldwin Smith, and 
may I say Harcourt? There is no room — there 
never is — for what I have to say. 

I have been away from Cannes for a few days, and Cannes 
am ashamed to be again behindhand. m ' 2S 

If I had not known it before, I should discover 
now what a good fellow Alfred Lyttelton is. F. C.'s 
view does not convince me. The impeding facts 
will be there, but the strong will 2 and the un- 
timely gift of self-disparagement may be too much 
for the facts. 

I am struck by what you say of the omission in 

1 The late Sir Charles Gavan Duffy. 2 Mr. v Gladstone's. 



218 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1881 Morley's book, which I am to receive in a few days. 
A person who has had a large and legitimate share 
in its preparation spoke to me some time ago in a 
manner which led me to expect that the Treaty nar- 
rative would be hostile to Mr. Gladstone, and would 
reveal soreness against him on the part of Cobden. 
I discussed the thing with him a good deal, but 
without materials which would justify me in hoping 
that I had made an impression. Since then, Mr. 
Gladstone has become P.M. and Morley is editor 
of one of the principal organs of a part of the minis- 
try. That explains some degree of reticence, if my 
former impression was correct. I do not think such 
reticence quite worthy of the occasion and the men ; 
and it would be well that the true story should be 
told, unless it should be likely in any way to embar- 
rass the new negotiation. That is a question that 
can only be settled at Hawarden. 

Knowles proposed that I should review the book, 
having a Tory review already undertaken. He 
offered to bring the volumes to Cannes before the 
end of this month. That would not give me the 
needful time. It would be necessary, in the dearth 
of books here, and of all sources of information 
besides T. B. Potter, to have some things looked 
up in England, by slow process of post. And it 
would be quite essential to ascertain how much of 
what is omitted may be supplied. Not feeling sure 
of that, and of the time, I was obliged to decline. 
If Knowles comes here, as he portended, I shall 
have an opportunity of talking it over with him. 
Many, many thanks for the glimpse into that 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 219 

precious Diary. 1 You will have observed how he 1881 
demolishes his own argument. He compares what 

1 (Hawarden, 15th Nov. 1881). — " Tite-a-tete breakfast. Along 
most interesting talk on the great vexed question of his retirement ; 
started by his saying that he and Lord Granville had discussed it, 
Lord G. good-humouredly declaring it out of the question. I quoted 
to him Lord Acton's words, how it would be a serious flaw in his politi- 
cal career to damage and perhaps ruin the Liberal party, by retiring 
from the leadership while in full possession of health and strength. 
He said the same arguments had been used in Lord Palmerston's case — 
that it was said the power and cohesion of the party depended on one 
man's life ; that history had proved in that case that this was not so ; 
that in his own case he had retired in '74 for good ; that his reassump- 
tion of office was accidental, conditional, and temporary; that it was 
undertaken for certain purposes foreshadowed in his Midlothian 
Speeches ; that these purposes were all or nearly all accomplished ; 
that if he did not retire after Ireland was settled, and House of Com- 
mons procedure readjusted, there was no moment in the future when it 
would be possible — that Lord Hartington l was a man of unusual 
strength and ability, but that before becoming Prime Minister he 
required more training as House of Commons leader. (I objected that 
he might at any moment go to the House of Lords, which would 
immensely weaken his influence ; and besides, who could then lead the 
House of Commons ?) The future leader of H. of C. was a great 
puzzle and difficulty. Sir Charles Dilke would probably be the man 
best fitted for it, he had shown much capacity for learning and unlearn- 
ing, but he would require Cabinet training first; that as time brings 
nearer Lord Hartington's move into House of Lords, force was added to 
the argument in favour of his own retirement. That he did not foresee 
great difficulties ahead for the Liberal party; that the Conservative 
ditto had thrown away what should have been their strength — the 
return to the principles and policy of Sir R. Peel; that they were 
demoralised and degraded ; that they had inherited the vices of Lord 
Beaconsfield without his tact and judgment: (Lord B.'s climax was 
reached in his attack on Sir Robert Peel. What a magnificent viru- 
lence he had shown ; what a power of cutting and piercing the man 
through a searching knowledge of his character) ; that this jingoism 
was perpetuated in them, and must eventually be their ruin. That of 
Forster, Harcourt, and Childers it was hard indeed to say which was 
best qualified for leading ; that Forster would probably be the best, but 

1 Now Duke of Devonshire. 



220 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1881 I say now with what people said of Palmerston. 
Those people were wrong because Palmerston left 
a better man than himself behind him. But Mr. 
Gladstone goes on to say that there is nobody 

behind him fit to lead, except . Just work out 

the sum in Proportion : as G. to P., so is X. to G. 

And it is not only a question of men, but of ele- 
ments. There are many things in the glimpse that 
are very notable. I fancy that Goschen's late speech 
has done him good ; but it still seems clear that he 
will not shut the door on the Tories. I am in 
communication with them * again, and should per- 
haps see them on my way back, if I could come to 
Hawarden. 

I write this off in haste, before I have an oppor- 
tunity of showing Mrs. Gladstone's most kind letter 
to Lady Acton. I don't like to answer her until I 
have done so. 

Of course I should like to come beyond anything. 
If Parliament does not meet before the proper time, 
it might be possible to come early in January. The 
middle of December would not be quite so easy, for 
reasons here. But please tell me if it would be very 
much better for reasons paramount. Two thousand 
miles would be nothing for a good hour's talk with 

that he had shown occasional incapacity ; that Goschen had sadly- 
injured himself by following up his errors as to franchise with an elabo- 
rate eulogium after weak-kneed Liberalism. (I quoted Lord A. again 
"that he might resign place, but could not resign power. 1 ') He 
demurred to this: for two years — 1874 to 1876 — he insisted he had 
had no influence on the Lib. party, that he should attend the H. of C. 
very rarely, and possibly begin by going abroad before the Session." 
1 The Goschens. 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 221 

him, and several hours with his Secretary. I hope 1881 
the Temple of Peace would not lose that character 
by my invasion of its pacific precincts. 

Seeley would be hard on Lecky if he applied 
those words to his " Eighteenth Century," which is 
a weighty, thoughtful book. But the two former 
works, by which he became famous, do not really 
rise much above the vulgar level. There is nothing 
in life writings nearly equal to the new Bampton 
Lectures. 1 



Hartington's speech has not arrived yet ; but the Cannes 
French papers describe him as differing about Ire- ov ' 2g 
land from the P.M. and not repelling the idea of 
Compensation. As this was not urged at the time, 
it would now be a reproach to the Act, which might 
never have passed with such conditions. And one 
neither sees how compensation is to be regulated, 
nor by whom ; whether by a commission stultifying 
the present one, or by the same contradicting itself. 
And it is very unlike the economic policy of the 
P.M. But I can conceive a very powerful argu- 
ment on the other side, which the Tories are not 
likely to use. 



I have not fired all my shot, and I don't rely on Cannes 
Hartington's translation. His last speech does not Dec ' 2 
strike me favourably. 

1 The late Dr. Hatch's Lectures on the Organisation of the Early 
Christian Churches. 



222 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 



1881 He puts away the compensation argument in a 
fashion more parliamentary than statesmanlike. In 
debate, where effects are immediate and momentary, 
one is glad of anything that tells against opponents, 
and gets used to phrases instead of reasons. 

Macaulay was indiscreet enough to write to his 
constituents on Windsor Castle paper. „ It was good 
material for a laugh, and no more; but Peel and 
Graham never let him hear the end of it. " From 
the proud Keep of Windsor you bade the lieges 
have no fear," and such like seemed equivalent to 
argument. When one addresses the Nation, with 
a sort of Manifesto on a difficult, new, and dangerous 
question, one must go straight to the point. We 
expect of a real statesman that he will take the case 
of his adversary not by its weak end, but at its 
strongest ; that he will see whether he cannot even 
strengthen it before he replies. If he deals with 
the weak points, like a lawyer, somebody will follow, 
and will beat him. That is part of the integrity of 
public men. And I must say that H.'s idea that 
he meets the case for compensation by asking 
whether rack-renting landlords are to be paid for 
their iniquity, exposes him to a rejoinder so crush- 
ing as to damage his position and to strengthen 
my plea. 

There is no constructive power among the Whigs. 
There is some among the Democrats, because their 
principles have been thought out, and provide legis- 
lation for generations. But the two men capable of 
working out thoughts into system on other than 
purely democratic lines are Derby and Goschen. 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 223 

And they are outside, and do not really contribute 1881 
to the force of the party. 

There was that omission in my former letter — 
not quite by accident. Many things are better 
for silence than for speech : others are better for 
speech than for stationery. I have a large store • 
of these. 

is so much stronger that I really believe Cannes 

that I shall be able to run over for a short visit, Dec ' z 4 
and the temptation is strong upon me to take your 
kind words literally. May I come — by the morn- 
ing train from town — on Monday, the second day 
of 1882 ? It would be the pleasantest beginning of 
a New Year that I could possibly imagine, after 
a melancholy autumn. 

To-morrow I am off to Nice with M., after the 
Blue Rose, and Christmas presents for the others. 
They tell me that Mr, Cross 1 is here. If so, I hope 
to have a talk with him about the difficult life he is 
writing. 

I have been looking forward to the books of the 
Year, which I have not had courage to send for, 
especially the life of the most fascinating writer 2 of 
the day, and the letters of Bishop Thirlwall. I am 
glad to think that I need not stop in London to read 
them, and am extremely interested by what you say 
of Thirlwall. I never found him very attractive or 
accessible, personally. 

1 The husband of George Eliot. 

2 A short life of Newman, by Mr. Jennings. 



224 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1881 The success of Newnham is a thing to congratu- 
late your sister on. As to Herbert, the papers 
enable me to follow his wanderings and conversa- 
tions with old Irishwomen. He must be making 
himself very useful to Mr. Gladstone ; and I rejoice 
at symptoms in this day's papers which tend to 
weaken my inclination to compensation. 

Of course you will tell me if the proposed date 
had better be exchanged for another, if there is 
any incompatible visit just then or for any other 
reason. I should not start until Thursday, the 
29th. 

Cannes The telegram summoning me for Saturday arrived 
Dec ' 27 late last night. If the trains keep time, I shall catch 
the Boulogne tidal from Paris on Friday, and so obey 
the summons. I presume there is a 9 or 10 a.m. train 
which will land us at Chester early enough in the 
afternoon to reach Hawarden about sunset. It 
looks like an early departure for Downing Street, 
which will be an affliction. Or perhaps some visitor 
with whom I ought to clash. But I am quite pre- 
pared to find the secret agent of the Vatican at 
Hawarden, and to look as if I took him for an 
African lion. . . . 

1882 ... I met three Ministers last night at dinner, 
Athenceum and the impression is that Mr. Gladstone is remark- 

J an - 7 ably well. But the Conservatism of London is 
something too excessive. 

I met at the Russells', Maine, Monck, F. Leve- 
son, and Reay. At the Athenaeum, Hayward, 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 225 

H. Spencer, May; and there are much worse 1882 
croakers than these. 

It will be quite refreshing to spend Monday at 
Seacox, with a man 1 who is understood to be trav- 
elling towards the Ministry, and no longer away 
from them. It has been impossible to call in Down- 
ing Street ; and I dare say your mother was rush- 
ing about. But I am to meet them, thanks to you 
as usual, at Lansdowne House this evening. 

At the Museum, Poole gave me the papers to 
read that Mr. Gladstone spoke of. 



In London I saw everybody I had designed Cannes 
to look for, except John Morley. ... Sir Henry 7 an - J 7 
Maine got me to criticise the proof of a lecture on 
the King and his Successor, which you will see in 
the February Nineteenth Century. I hope he ac- 
cepted some of my amendments ; but he was 
obdurate about the most important. He says that 
Primogeniture has been of very great political ser- 
vice. I admitted this, but objected that there is 
another side to the question, that Primogeniture 
embodies the confusion between authority and 
property which constitutes modern Legitimacy, 
that Legitimacy has, in this century, acted as an 
obstacle to free institutions, and that a one-sided 
judgment thrown off as that sentence is, gives a 
Tory tinge to the entire paper. He answered: 
"You seem to use Tory as a term of reproach." 

1 Mr. Goschen. 
Q 



226 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1882 I was much struck by this answer — much struck 
to find a philosopher, entirely outside party politics, 
who does not think Toryism a reproach, and still 
more, to find a friend of mine ignorant of my senti- 
ments about it. And I am much tempted to have 
it out with him, and discover what he really means. 
Besides which, I spent some hours in Mark Patti- 
son's company; found Reay desponding, but eager 

to speak; May, 1 very much depressed; H , 

pottering feebly, as I thought, over Montlosier, 2 
whom he does not understand, in the Quarterly, 
and Junius, whom he does not discover, in the 
" Encyclopaedia " ; Monck, 3 remarkable as the one 
happy Irishman. 

I should like to impress one thought on your 
mind : Much will depend on your success in making 
the work of the Session sit lightly on the P.M. in 
getting him to yield to distractions, even to amuse- 
ments, and no longer to consider change of work an 
equivalent to rest. A house near town, the play, I 
had almost said the opera, might be a help. If he 
would be unprincipled enough to refuse tiresome 
dinners, however far off, and then to accept pleasant 
ones, at short notice, it would be worth a great deal. 
In short, a little demoralisation is the best security 
I can see for the supreme perfecting of his career. 

By-the-bye, you condemn me for my indefinite 

1 Sir Erskine May. 

2 The Comte de Montlosier, a French emigrant, Royalist, historian, 
antiquary, feudalist, and Liberal Catholic. 

3 Lord Monck, first Governor-General of Federated Canada. 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 227 

answers to some very searching questions; and I 1882 
find you are right. At least I have read a paper on 
the Revised Version which satisfies me that I ought 
to have joined more heartily in Mr. Gladstone's 
censure of it. But I have been reading it to my 
children, and it had got associated with very sweet 
moments. Once more, I perceive that my letter is 
full of everything except yourself. . . . 

I return the letter of my heroine 1 with many Cannes 
thanks. It reminds me of what she wrote to me. ^ an ' 2S 
If I could find it I would send it to you. ... I 
think there is a piece of truth in Mr. Ottley's 
remark. Her strongest conviction, the keystone of 
her philosophy, was the idea that all our actions 
breed their due reward in this world, and that life 
is no reign of reason if we put off the compensation 
to another world. That is a moral far more easily 
worked in cases of outward, transitive sin than in 
those which disturb only the direct relations of man 
with God. These indeed are cases which may 
partly depend on our belief in God, not only in 
humanity and human character. Deny God, and 
whole branches of deeper morality lose their sanc- 
tion. Here I am preaching against Bradlaugh, 
after all ! 

Her genius would no doubt reveal to her conse- 
quences which others cannot imagine. But still the 
inclination of a godless philosophy will be towards 
palpable effects and those about which there is no 
mistake. Especially in a doctrine with so little 

1 George Eliot. 



228 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1882 room for grace and forgiveness, where no God ever 
speaks except by the voice of other men. Defined 
and brought to book, that is a detestable system. 
But it is not on the surface — and many men can 
no more be kept straight by spiritual motives than 
we can live without policemen. 

Still there is a piece of truth in this paganism. 
Looking at history, not at biography, taking 
societies, and not individuals, we cannot deal with 
things seen by God alone; things take other pro- 
portions ; the scale of vice and virtue is not that of 
private life; we judge of it by its outward action, 
and hesitate to penetrate the secrets of conscience. 
The law of visible retribution is false even there. 
But it is true that the test and measure of good and 
evil is not that of the spiritual biographer. 

I shall punish Sir H. Maine with your very 
striking remark about Toryism. 

That is a perilous point, about suspiciousness. 
By all means we should think well until forced to 
think ill of people. But we must be prepared for 
that compulsion; and the experience of history 
teaches that the uncounted majority of those who 
get a place in its pages are bad. We have to deal 
chiefly, in life, with people who have no place in 
history, and escape the temptations that are on the 
road to it. But most assuredly, now as heretofore, 
the Men of the Time are, in most cases, unprin- 
cipled, and act from motives of interest, of passion, 
of prejudice cherished and unchecked, of selfish 
hope or unworthy fear. 



Feb. 20 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 229 

I spent at Rome a most interesting fortnight, ex- 1882 
plaining the history of the Church and of the world Cannes 
to M., listening to a great debate on the representa- 
tion of minorities, and hearing a good deal of the 
M.P. 1 who neither has nor has not a mission. We 
wound up with two days at Florence, and I accom- 
panied M. to Genoa, along the finest part of the 
Riviera, and then went to Bologna, to a dying 
relation. All which has stood in the way of coming 
home, of writing, and of knowing what is going on. 
I am reading up the debates, and your letters light 
up the task. 

Bonghi, who has a volume of Roman History 
ready, spent an afternoon with me in the Forum ; 
but proved unsound about Ireland. Minghetti took 
us over the palace of the Caesars, as they call the 
Palatine. I took M. the round of imperial statues 
and monuments of the Popes, hanging a tale to each, 
and I am afraid her impressions of history are 
gloomy. We made up for it a little at Santa Croce, 
with Dante and Fossombroni; and in Savonarola's 
cell at S. Marco, I sat in his chair, and told her of 
the friar who died for his belief that the way to make 
men better was to make them free. 

I was not happy about Errington. Everybody 
spoke well of him. But there was too manifest a 
desire to amplify the significance of his position, 
and to entangle him in Roman schemes and views. 

Schlozer's first visit was to me, as we lived 
in the same house, and are old friends. They, at 

1 Sir George Errington. 



230 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1882 least, have something to offer; but the mission 
seems to me very ambiguous. 

I have long wished for that declaration about self- 
government; but I am persuaded that there has 
been as much statesmanship in the choice of the 
time as of the terms. There is so much danger of 
being deserted on that line, and of one's friends 
combining to effect a reaction. It will not do to 
make too much of the speech of 187 1. The occa- 
sion, last week, gave extraordinary weight to Mr. 
Gladstone's words ; and he would not now say that the 
movement is superfluous, or that Ireland always got 
what she wanted. The risk is that he may seem to 
under-rate the gravity of a great constitutional 
change, in the introduction of a federal element. 

Liberty depends on the division of power. Democ- 
racy tends to unity of power. To keep asunder 
the agents, one must divide the sources; that is, 
one must maintain, or create, separate administrative 
bodies. In the view of increasing democracy, a 
restricted federalism is the one possible check upon 
concentration and centralism. 

But I am very anxious about one thing. If Mr. 
Gladstone thinks that he cannot carry his colleagues, 
his party, parliament, or the nation with him, and 
declines to take the lead in this movement, the 
throwing out of the idea may become a source of 
weakness. They will say that he waits for the 
initiative of others, that he is expecting a wind, that 
he is ready to be squeezed, if others will do it for 
him, that he looks on opinion as a thing to be 
obeyed, not to be guided — and so will proceed to 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 231 

put pressure on him and to make demonstrations 1882 
not at all in conformity with his spirit and purpose. 



Goschen agreed to go with me to Paris, and Cannes 
changed his mind at the last moment. The con- e ' 
sequence was that I did not stop at Paris, and some 
letters which were sent there from Seacox have only- 
just reached me. And so I have left unanswered 
your birthday letter, and seemed to disregard the 
reproach as well as the kindness it expresses. 

I will not say that, in the former, there is not 
much that I have had to consider. Still, in giving 
up one's home, and country and friends and occupa- 
tions, there is at least a mixture of good motives 
with selfish ones, and something sacrificed, if there 
is also a good deal of calculated pleasure-seeking 
and ease. If I held an appointment abroad, keeping 
me permanently away from my — very modest — 
estate, you would say that the Government was 
insane to offer it, but you would hardly think it 
wrong of me to accept it. And the duty I have 
allowed to precede all other duties is one that 
possesses a strong, and unmistakable, claim on me. 

Between my children and my Shropshire neigh- 
bours my choice is indeed decided. Do not, when 
I have the happiness of seeing you again, allow 
these shortcomings and these backslidings of mine 
to interfere with that better topic — which is your- 
self, but which gets no chance. 

I am seeing a good deal of the Mallets. He is 
getting over a very bad illness, and seems to like 



232 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1882 Cannes, in spite of Sir E. Colebrooke and the Pall 
Mall. I have succeeded in making Sir Louis shake 
his head over the secret Jacobinism of his friend 
Morley. Yesterday I had the pleasure of dining 
with your favourite correspondent. 

Your view of the speech introducing the new 
Procedure is far more just than R.'s. It displayed 
that serene mastery and lightness of touch which 
are the latest growth or ripest form of his talent, 
rather than the controlling and compelling power 
which we know so well. As to the censure, 1 I hold 
the necessity of keeping the working of the Act 
from interference ; but I cannot admit that the case 
of the Commissioners is good, at the weakest point. 
The defence of their general action seems to me 
triumphant ; but I don't think the attack has been 
met in the particulars ; and the common maxim of 
all constitutional governments, to stand by one's 
subordinates in their need, is, I think, a very dan- 
gerous one. 

John Inglesant has been begun but not finished, 
for want of time in London. Here is a letter which 
it can be no indiscretion to show you, on that in- 
teresting subject. I did not, in reply, quite con- 
firm the critic's doubts, though I probably could 
not remove them. I would rather regard it as a 
philosophical than as a historical work. 

And I missed the Athenceum Summary. When 
one comes to classify all that appears, the gaps 
strike one as much as the bulk. Still, in the narrow 

1 The vote of censure on the Lords for appointing a Committee to 
inquire into the operation of the Irish Land Act. 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 233 

domain of my own book — " The Madonna of the 1882 
Future " * — every week brings several new publica- 
tions that are sure to contribute some light or some 
difficulty. 

• •••••• 

We have no particulars yet, and I still hope it Cannes 
was not an Irishman. 2 The villa at Mentone stands March 4 
in the midst of dark olive woods, scarcely a mile 
from the frontier, and less than a furlong from the 
sea. It will require to be well guarded. 

I have followed the conflict with the keen atten- 
tion you may imagine, and rejoice quite as much as 
anybody in Downing Street at the personal triumph, 
and at the accession of strength which is due so 
entirely to his own efforts and belongs exclusively 
to himself. It is a gain for a better cause than the 
ministry. We are just in that intermediate state in 
which the issue at Northampton 8 is unknown, but 
seems certain, which will be a relief. 

The correspondence with Gardiner has gone on 
at some length, and the problem is very interesting. 
He persists in rejecting the story. I now under- 
stand that John Inglesant is willing to be received, 
but is told by the Jesuit that he is safe if, with that 
belief and disposition, he remains an Anglican. 

I imagine that he might have argued in this way : 
Roman Catholic divines hold that the 39 Articles 
may be understood in a favourable sense. Anglicans 

1 His correspondent's name for his " History of Liberty." It was 
of course taken from the title of Mr. Henry James's delightful novel. 

2 On the 2nd of March a lunatic named Martin fired at the Queen 
and Princess Beatrice at Windsor Station. 

3 Bradlaugh's re-election. 



234 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

C882 hold that they are not literally binding on the clergy. 
Still less on the laity. Therefore his position in the 
English Church does not involve this layman in any 
error. It may involve him in certain dangers and 
difficulties. But these are not greater than the dan- 
gers and difficulties which would follow his con- 
version. For there are many opinions, not only 
sanctioned but enforced by the authorities of the 
Church of Rome, which none can adhere to without 
peril to the soul. The moral risk on one side is 
greater than the dogmatic risk on the other. He can 
escape heresy in Anglicanism more easily than he 
can escape the ungodly ethics of the papacy, the 
Inquisition, the Casuists, in the Roman Communion. 
The solicitation, the compulsion, will be more irre- 
sistible in the latter. A man who thought it wrong 
to murder a Protestant King would be left for hell 
by half the Confessors on the Continent. Montagu, 
Bramhall will not sap this man's Catholic faith so 
surely as the Spanish and Italian moralists will 
corrupt his soul. 

There were men, in the XVI Ith century, who 
would have argued in this way. I can even con- 
ceive a Jesuit doing it, for they were much divided, 
and there were men amongst them far more deeply 
and broadly divided from the prevailing teaching of 
their own Church, than from the Catholic party in 
Anglicanism. But I cannot name any Jesuit living 
in Charles I.'s time of whom it could be said with 
any probability. So that I am sure not to shake 
Gardiner's conviction. He is not well informed in 
religious history ; but as a friend of Brewer he must 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 235 

have read the life of Goodman, which, I think, 1882 
Brewer edited. 

Gardiner is Irving's son-in-law. His position in 
that Church inclines him to Conservative views, and 
it would be hard for him to admit that illustrious 
Catholic divines who did so much for Christian 
revelation and for spiritual doctrine were in reality 
so infamous in their moral teaching as my hypothesis 
implies. But I am letting the cat of the Piazzetta 1 
out of the bag. 

I do hope that the social duties are not too 
irksome. 

I was at Mentone yesterday, and as I do not much Cannes 
like the place where the Queen is to live, I took March 9 
pains to ascertain what is doing for her safety. The 
Vice-Consul is a singularly intelligent and practical 
man, and I saw with satisfaction that the peculiar 
drawbacks are fully understood. Every precaution 
will be taken, without attracting attention, or being 
perceived by the Queen herself. 

I shall not get credit for my loyalty, for it caused 
me to miss a meeting which was held here, during 
my absence, to vote an address. But I was re- 
warded by finding Green, the historian, at Mentone, 
in good spirits — but in bad health — and I spent an 
interesting hour with him. 

Gardiner tells me that I understand nothing about 
the question, that the Jesuit was only a conspira- 
tor and intriguer, and that " John Inglesant " is 
abominably overrated. So let us wait for Fraser, 

1 This refers to a conversation at Venice in October 1879. 



236 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1882 with open and unsettled minds. Brewer published 
in 1839 " The Court of James I.," being the Memoirs 
of Goodman, Bp. of Gloucester, possibly not the 
book in question, but one that would make the situ- 
ation clear to the intelligent reader. Green, who 
does not agree, much, with Gardiner, tells me that 
he has made great sacrifices by adhering to Irving- 
ism, and that he has still to struggle with extreme 
poverty. Being one of the two or three most solid 
historians in England, he has to teach at an inferior 
girls' school. He has had the misfortune to lose 
several children, as well as his first wife. Do you 
know his Outline of English History ? I make my 

children read it, to keep out . I wonder what 

the numerous Wickhams will learn history in. I am 
so glad that I have a new friend of the same kind as 
those I like so much. 

As Mr. Gladstone has had various correspondence 
with Mivart, it may interest him to know that that 
very distinguished philosopher, the most eminent 
man of science our Church has had in England, was 
constrained to decline election at the Athenaeum, 
being certain of blackballs, by reason of his quarrel 
with the Darwinians. In the hope that the Com- 
mittee may elect him, he wishes to be put down in 
the books again ; and he asks me to propose him. 
As I have never spoken to him in my life, it is 
against the rule ; but I have agreed to do it, in 
acknowledgment of his unquestioned eminence and 
because of Mr. Gladstone's weakness for him, which 
I, otherwise, do not share. The wicked Sclater, 
vender of Jumbo, is the Seconder. 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 237 

Even without knowing the conversation with Gib- 1882 
son, who seems to me a most able specimen of his 
kind, the attitude taken up towards the Lords seems 
to me in all ways excellent. As to Bradlaugh, as he 
is there, I wish the amendment 1 had succeeded — 
for I have not read the Nineteenth Century? But 
have you seen in the Century — once Scribner — 
Bryce on Disraeli ? It is a good paper. 



In the middle of John Inglesant came the enclosed, 3 Cannes 
which I return, with dismay. The impression given March 2I 
seems to be that by speaking of dogmatic danger in 
England, and of moral danger in Rome, I ingen- 
iously laid a silent imputation of heterodoxy on 
Anglicans, whilst implying that we are free at least 
from that suspicion; so that I thought of 1882 
whilst I spoke of 1640, and meant controversy, 
though pretending to write history. 

The reward of history is that it releases and 
relieves us from present strife. My only endeavour 
was to recall what might have occurred two cen- 
turies and a half ago, to a sincere and upright priest, 
that is, to one who studied to detach his mind from 
its habitual surroundings, to look behind his own 
scenes, to stand apart with Archimedes, to practise 
the doute methodique of Descartes, to discern preju- 
dice from faith and sympathy from truth. There 

1 That Mr. Bradlaugh, having been re-elected for Northampton, should 
be allowed to take the oath and his seat. 

2 A protest by Cardinal Manning against the admission of Mr. 
Bradlaugh. 

3 A letter from Mr. Gladstone to his daughter. 



238 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1882 was no such problem, and I know now that my zeal 
was wasted on a personage whose notion of religion 
was not worth inquiry. But I was not pleading a 
cause. I scarcely venture to make points against 
the religion of other people, from a curious experi- 
ence that they have more to say than I know, and 
from a sense that it is safer to reserve censure for 
one's own, which one understands more intimately, 
having a share of responsibility and action. 

It would have been more accurate to sacrifice my 
antithesis by referring to doctrinal trouble as well as 
moral risk on our side. If I did not do so — I have 
no recollection of my words — the reason may be 
that I am too deeply impressed with the moral risk to 
have the other very present to my mind. Encoun- 
tering an associate of Guy Fawkes and Ravaillac, 
I do not stop to ask what he makes of the Apocry- 
pha, or how far he goes with the Athanasian Creed. 
I believe that our internal conflicts spring from in- 
difference to sin, and not from a religious idea. A 
speculative Ultramontanism separate from theories 
of tyranny, mendacity, and murder, keeping honestly 
clear of the Jesuit with his lies, of the Dominican 
with his fagots, of the Popes with their massacres, 
has not yet been brought to light. Dollinger, who 
thinks of nothing else, has never been able to define 
it, and I do not know how to distinguish a Vati- 
canist of that sort, a Vaticanist in a state of grace, 
from a Catholic. 

Let me supply my omission by declaring that my 
hypothetical divine would not have found all the 
moral evil in one quarter, and ambiguous doctrine 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 239 

only in the other. I dare say he would think that 1882 
in England too little was done for the spiritual life, 
and, unless he had a taste for Donne, that devotional 
literature was backward; and he might even agree 
with Thorndike that the neglect of the discipline of 
penance threatened the Church with ruin. In like 
manner, he would not view with favour some of 
the dogmatic theology that flourished amongst his . 
friends. He might, for instance, deem that Molinism 
or Jansenism, neither of them yet approved or re- 
jected, but severally dominant in many lands, were 
false systems, and that, between the two, a Catholic 
doctrine of grace was hard to find. He would be 
aware that Rome still cherished the idea that 
roused Luther, that, by committing a sin one may 
save a soul ; and he would perhaps conclude, with a 
famous Jesuit of his day, that Luther did well to 
attack it. 

Of the instances suggested, one, the Cultus of the 
Blessed Virgin, was partly of later growth and would 
not seriously disturb a contemporary of Charles the 
First. It does not offend in the older, classical litera- 
ture of the Church, in the Imitation, the Exposition, 
the Pensees, or the Petit Careme. Sixty years ago, 
a priest who is still living was sent as Chaplain to 
Alton Towers. At Evening Prayers, when he 
began the Litany of Loretto, Lord Shrewsbury rose 
from his knees and told him that they never recited 
it. He was a man, as the " Life of Panizzi " shows, 
without an idea of his own. 

Images would probably impress him as a danger 
to be warded, rather, I think, than Transubstantia- 



240 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1882 tion. Here the difficulty that strikes a dialectician 
hardly reaches the people. Many Catholics are 
practically conscious of no difference from the higher 
Anglican or Lutheran view of the Real Presence. 
Hegel's argument, that a mouse which had nibbled 
a Host would become an object of adoration, would 
strike nine laymen out of ten as a poor joke. I 
know not whether the confusion of thought was 
greater then or less; but he would remember so 
many cases of Protestants ready to conform on no 
harder condition than the concession of the Cup 
that his scruples would be likely to melt. Montagu 
saying that he knew no Roman tenet he would not 
subscribe, unless it were Transubstantiation, would 
have made him wonder why a Catholic-minded prel- 
ate should be more stiffnecked than the unbending 
Lutherans or fiercer Bohemians. 

But whatever the dogmatic perils he might appre- 
hend, he would meet them in the same spirit of 
charitable construction he had employed on the 
other side. I will presume that he took the oath 
of allegiance, for, in 1635, the Jesuits allowed their 
penitents to take it. He would even admit the 
Royal Supremacy, like Father Caron, as not ex- 
ceeding the prerogative of Kings in France and 
Spain. He would drop the imputation of schism, 
seeing that Bramhall wrote that there was no 
formed difference with the Church of Rome about 
any point of faith. Finding that an Archbishop 
denied any necessary articles of faith beyond the 
Apostles' Creed, he would regard the 39 Articles 
as Hall, Chillingworth, Bramhall, Stillingfleet, and, 






LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 241 

according to Bull, all that are well advised, con- 1882 
sidered them — pious opinions which no man was 
obliged to believe. With Bossuet, he would ac- 
knowledge the force of the case in favour of Angli- 
can orders, and with Richard Simon he would admit 
that the Caroline divines had not their equals in his 
own Church, and would revere them as the strong- 
est enemies of the specific heresies of Luther and 
Calvin, as the force that would sap the fabric against 
which Rome still contended in vain. If he heard 
that there was a bishop who begged prayers for his 
soul, another who tolerated the Invocation of Saints, 
a third who allowed Seven Sacraments, and so on, 
he might be willing to believe, with Davenport, that 
the chasm was rilled that had separated England 
from Trent. 

To reach that point of conciliation it would be 
necessary to make the best of everything, so far as 
could be without sophistry, violence, or concealment. 
And the same rule of favourable interpretation 
would be applied by the same man to his own 
Theology. He would be bound by the limits of 
Richelieu's proposals, and would keep within the 
lines of Bossuet, and those which Spinola after- 
wards drew, with the assent of Pope and General. 

He would have been confirmed in this method 
by the response it drew from such eminent Protes- 
tants as Grotius, Bramhall, La Bastide, Praetorius, 
Fabricius, and Leibniz. Their judgment would 
have encouraged him to abide in his own commun- 
ion, and would have taught him that he was as safe 
as his friend on the other side. The same impar- 



242 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1882 tiality would have led to the same result. There 
were even Protestant divines who sanctioned con- 
versions to Rome. 

The last time I saw Count Arnimhe asked about 
Newman's Vatican defence. I said that he had 
explained the decrees away by declaring that he 
meant no defence of persecution and tyrannicide. 
That was a canon of interpretation strong enough 
to blow any other ingredient into gas. Arnim 
objected that Newman's manipulations were not 
accepted at Rome. Just then he became a Car- 
dinal, and so they were indirectly sanctioned. 

I endow my seventeenth-century divine with the 
ingenuity and the integrity of Newman. Having 
given England the benefit of No. 90, he would gild 
Rome with the answer to the Expostulation. Shut- 
ting one eye to the Articles, like Chillingworth, he 
would, like Spinola, shut the other to the Council 
of Trent. Having expounded Anglo-Catholicism 
by the light of Bramhall, he would, in the same 
spirit, choose Cassander, Bossuet, Corker as genuine 
exponents of Roman Catholicism, and he could do 
both without insincerity or surrender. 

Don't let me make too much of that passage in 
Newman. He defended the Syllabus, and the 
Syllabus justified all those atrocities. Pius the 
Fifth held that it was sound Catholic doctrine that 
any man may stab a heretic condemned by Rome, 
and that every man is a heretic who attacks the 
papal prerogatives. Borromeo wrote a letter for 
the purpose of causing a few Protestants to be 
murdered. Newman is an avowed admirer of 



20-22 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 243 

Saint Pius and Saint Charles, and of the pontiffs 1882 
who canonised them. This, and the like of this, is 
the reason of my deep aversion for him. 

There is not time for Shorthouse to-day. . I will 
tell you about him as soon as I can. 

Wickham lent me John Inglesant yesterday, and Cannes 
I finished it before bedtime. I have read nothing 7/ 
more thoughtful and suggestive since Middlemarch, 
and I could fill with honest praise the pages I am 
going to blacken with complaint. But if I had 
access to the author, with privilege of free and 
indiscreet speech, it would seem a worthier tribute 
to his temper and ability to lay my litany of doubts 
before him. Not having it, I submit my question- 
ings to yourself, as the warmest admirer of his 
work. Probably the difficulties which occur to me 
have been raised already in reviews which you have 
read. For instance : — 

I. 29. Inglesant's name does not appear in the 
trials of the Protestants. Did the Marian persecu- 
tion rage in Wilts ? 

73, 74. Here is a Puritan party in parliament and 
a scheme to pervert its leaders, in August 1637. 
No parliament had sat for eight years. 

83. Juan Valdes was not a papist but a Protestant. 

90. Would Foxe be the favourite and character- 
istic author of such Arminians as the Ferrars ? 

10 1. The Mass is the strongest of all the motives 
that lead men to Rome. — I really doubt it, for I 
remember more instances of men attracted by our 
orders, by authority, unity, confession. 



244 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1882 107. Hobbes thinks it is the consecrating power 
by which a priest, in the hour of death, can save a 
soul. — He should have said, the power of absolu- 
tion. 

207. Something similar to the feeling in England 
during the Sepoy rebellion. Read : Mutiny. This 
is an understatement. The Irish massacre was 
more appalling to the imagination because it was 
nearer and of vaster reported proportions. A re- 
spectable writer who lived in Ireland believes that 
there were 300,000 victims. 

272. Charles contrasted most favourably with his 
judges, whose sole motive was self. Ludlow's Me- 
moirs, and other sources, show that something was 
at work besides selfish fears. The men perhaps 
were no better for that. They may even have been 
worse, inasmuch as the higher and better part of 
them served as the motive of crime. Carnot may 
have been as infamous as Barere ; but it is unjust 
to tar them with the same brush. 

277. Eustace loses his suppers with the French 
King — Louis was eleven years old. 

279, 312. I don't remember the term Quakers in 
current use as early as January 1650, but very soon 
after. 

327. In opposition to this, the Jesuits about the 
time of the Reformation came forward with what 
was called a new doctrine. — The book in question 
came out in 1588. 

Vol. I. 339. II. 12. Legate and nuncio are 
treated as the same thing. They are as different 
as Praetor and Dictator. 






LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 245 

II. 3. The learning of the Fathers was not what 1882 
it had been a century ago. — These Fathers must be 
Italian monks generally, or else the Jesuits. It is 
not true of either. The Jesuits had no very emi- 
nent scholars in the first generation. Salmeron, the 
most noted, lived to be told by Bellarmin that his 
books would take a good deal of retouching before 
going to press. The middle of the seventeenth 
century, especially the second quarter, was the 
golden age of Jesuit learning, when their suprem- 
acy was uncontested. The Benedictines did not 
begin to rival them quite so early as Cressy says 

I. 334. 

4. Chigi is never di Chigi, and the pope's sister- 
in-law was called Olimpia Maidalchini. 

106. An age or two ago the priestly government 
was better. Yet Machiavelli brings much the 
same accusation against it in his time. 

138. Some confusion as to the name of the 
English College. 

272. The steps of the Trinita were hardly built 
then. There might be more of these little scruples, 
and, by themselves, they do not build up a strong 
misgiving. The picture may be true in spite of 
slips in accessory detail. But is the picture true, 
I will not say controversially, but historically ? 
There are glaring faults in it, not open to dispute 
or controversy, and I will begin with these. 

Inglesant comes to Rome about 1654, where 
Molinos has already resided some years; and he 
then attends to the business of the duke of Umbria. 
Umbria is Urbino. The last duke of Urbino died 



246 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

X882 nearly forty years before Molinos settled in Rome. 
Inglesant is present at the condemnation of Molinos, 
and afterwards visits Worcester, in Charles the 
Second's reign — II. 369. Charles the Second had 
been dead two years when Molinos was condemned. 

In the pontificate of Alexander the Seventh, we 
hear all at once that Molinos is arrested, and are 
told of a meeting, at the Chigi palace, of persons 
belonging to the time of Innocent the Eleventh. 
II. 333. Without a single word, we are carried 
over three pontificates and an interval of thirty 
years. 

The Jesuit who is so hopeful of Anglican re- 
union that he will not allow his favourite pupil to 
join the Church of Rome is called Sancta Clara. 
There was a Father Sancta Clara in those days, 
who is peculiarly well remembered among English 
Catholics as the greatest writer we had between 
Stapleton and Newman, less acute than the one, less 
eloquent than the other, more learned than either; 
remarkable for opinions so conciliatory as to 
resemble those of his imaginary namesake, and to 
make him the originator and suggester of No. XC. ; 
remarkable also for the extreme difficulty of getting 
his books. But he was a Franciscan, not a Jesuit, a 
scholar, not an intriguer; and his name was not 
Hall, but Davenport. 

This is surely a wilful and wanton confusion of 
persons, times, and things. It destroys confidence 
in the writer's carefulness or knowledge, gives a 
tone of unreality, and makes one feel that the whole 
is out of keeping. 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 247 

The book depicts the religious strivings of the 1882 
age so far as the hero would come in contact with 
them, keeping a sort of syncretism 1 in view. Some 
of the most remarkable currents of thought are left 
out of sight, and others, which were not within 
reach, are introduced by a tyrannical use of time 
and space. The Rosicrucians can hardly have been 
talked about in England within twenty years after 
the Fama appeared. The Quietists had not ap- 
peared in Rome under Innocent the Tenth. The 
wonderful teaching of Bohme, which did reach us 
under Charles the First, is not alluded to; and 
Inglesant lives in the same house with Van Hel- 
mont, and never discovers that he is more than a 
physician. The most intense religious force of all 
that which prevailed during Inglesant's English 
career, Independency, is nowhere named, as well as 
I remember. The writer does not differentiate 
Puritans. He lumps Arminian with Predestinarian, 
the man who looks on Schism with the horror felt 
by Baxter and the man who made Schism a princi- 
ple of organisation. Monarchy, he tells us, was 
restored because the Puritans hated the tyranny of 
Cromwell. It was restored, because Presbyterians 
would not stand being oppressed by Congregation- 
alists ; and for another reason which was discovered 
by Harrington, 2 and may still be discovered in his 
Works. We are introduced to Hobbes and to 
More — Hobbes much better drawn than More — 

1 Union, fusion. 

2 James Harrington, 1611-1677. Toland edited his work on the 
"Theory of the State," which was seized by Cromwell. 



248 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1882 but we never meet Chillingworth, and though at 
one time very near to Hammond we do not hear 
him. Ussher offering terms to Presbyterians, Bax- 
ter seeking for peace with Prelacy, Bramhall holding 
out a hand to Gallicans, Leighton consorting with 
Jansenists — all this good and apt material is dis- 
dained. Instead of the original thinkers among the 
English Catholics — Barnes, Holden, Davenport, 
White, Caron, Serjeant, Walshe — -we have only 
Cressy, by way of a foil to the Jesuits, and with a 
vague reminiscence of a page in the writings of an 
Edgbaston neighbour. Of the efforts making in 
France and Holland to mitigate Calvinism, and in 
Germany to tone down the dogma of Augsburg, not 
a word. Lutherans only appear in order to be sad- 
dled with a doctrine by which they would be sorry 
to stand or fall. Jansenism, odious, probably, to the 
author, is not displayed ; and the definition of the 
Oratorian spirit as contrasted with Benedictine and 
Jesuit, is quite inadequate. 

Mysticism and High Church Anglicanism are so 
highly favoured that the hero, when the Jesuit re- 
laxes his grasp, acquiesces in both. At Rome he is 
a hearty Molinosist. Driven from Rome he is a 
hearty Anglican. Perhaps Malebranche or Fenelon 
might have facilitated the transition from Petrucci 
to Norris and Nelson and Ken. But there is no 
transition. The passage is made by the help of no 
subtler agency than a Newhaven smack. The thing 
is unexplained, inartistic, inorganic, but quite con- 
sistent with the drifting nature of Inglesant. Com- 
ing to more debateable ground I proceed with 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 249 

greater diffidence : Who sat for the profane and 1882 
sceptical Cardinal ? There is some likeness to 
Retz, without his genius or any premonition of the 
change which, in Inglesant's time, came over him. 
But it would be an unpardonable error to paint an 
Italian prelate with colours owned by a Frenchman. 
I suspect the author of having no authority for this 
description, both because his account of the Con- 
clave is so superficial, and for the following reason. 
Rinuccini, alluding to persecution, goes back a cen- 
tury for an example, to a foreign country and a 
hostile church. One later instance occurs to his 
company, but he rejects it. Evidently, he thinks 
that there is nothing of the sort nearer at hand. If, 
he says, they once commenced to burn at Rome, 
they would not know where to stop. 

An account of Catholicism which assumes that, in 
the middle of the seventeenth century, Rome had not 
commenced to burn, is an account which studiously 
avoids the real and tragic issues of the time The 
part of Hamlet is omitted, by desire. For when 
Rinuccini spoke, the fires of the Roman Inquisition 
were, indeed, extinct, but had been extinguished in 
his lifetime, under the preceding pontificate, having 
burnt for nearly a century. Familiar instances must 
have been remembered by his hearers ; and they had 
read in the most famous theological treatise of the 
last generation, by what gradation of torments a 
Protestant ought to die. They knew that whoever 
obstructed the execution of that law forfeited his 
life, that the murder of a heretic was not only per- 
mitted but rewarded, that it was a virtuous deed to 



250 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1882 slaughter Protestant men and women, until they 
were all exterminated. 

To keep these abominations out of sight is the 
same offence as to describe the Revolution without 
the guillotine. The reader knows no more than old 
Caspar what it was all about. 

There was no mystery about these practices, no 
scruple, and no concealment. Although never repu- 
diated, and although retrospectively sanctioned by 
the Syllabus, they fell into desuetude, under pressure 
from France, and from Protestant Europe. But they 
were defended, more or less boldly, down to the peace 
of Westphalia. 1 The most famous Jesuits counte- 
nanced them, and were bound to countenance them, 
for the papacy had, by a series of books approved 
and of acts done, identified itself with the system, 
and the Jesuits were identified with the cause of the 
papacy. A Gallican was not quite so deeply com- 
promised. He might say that these are the crimes 
and teaching of the Court, not of the Church, of 
Rome; and he was on his guard to restrict the 
influence and to disparage the example of the popes. 
Nevertheless, to say : If you believe the books which 
Rome commends ; if you accept the doctrines which 
Rome imposes under pain of death and damnation ; 
if you do the deeds she requires, and imitate the 
lives she proposes as your patterns, you will be prob- 
ably hanged in this world, and assuredly damned 
in the next — this would have sounded like derision 
even in the mouth of Pascal or Bossuet. To a Jesuit 
it was impossible. He existed in order to sustain 

1 1648. 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 251 

the credit of the Popes. He wished the world to 1882 
think well of them. They were a tower of strength, 
an object of pride to every member of the Society. 
He was obliged to swallow them whole. Therefore, 
though he might wear the mask of Lancelot An- 
drews or William Wilberforce, within it was a lining 
of Saint Just. It is this combination of an eager 
sense of duty, zeal for sacrifice, and love of virtue, 
with the deadly taint of a conscience perverted by 
authority, that makes them so odious to touch and 
so curious to study. 

You will be prepared to hear that I no more recog- 
nise the Jesuit than the Cardinal. Something indeed 
may be urged in behalf of the sonorous wickedness of 
those instructions in which he betrays his spirit, in the 
strongest passage of the book. It matters not what 
cause we take up, provided we defend it well — 
that is Probabilism. It matters not what wrong 
we do in a good cause — that again is the maxim 
that the end justifies the means, which, like Prob- 
abilism, was just then in the ascendant. It matters 
not whether the cause for which we sin is religion 
or policy — even that is paralleled by the way in 
which the French Jesuits, all but one, supported 
Richelieu in his alliance with the Protestants, in 
the Thirty Years' War. But it is the character of 
an exceptional Jesuit, not a type. It is not indi- 
cated that he goes wrong from the worthiest motive; 
that the disinterested spirit of religion, which to 
other men is a safeguard, is as fatal to him as vul- 
gar passions to other men. The true Jesuit falls 
better than that. His decay begins at the top. 



252 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1882 He does not find his way to Malebolge x until a 
guide misleads him whom he takes for an angel of 
light. The sordid, lying, selfish, ambitious speci- 
men does not appear unless grafted on a fanatical 
stock. The essence that vitiates so much disci- 
pline and virtue is so subtle that we seldom feel 
the resemblance when Jesuits are portrayed from 
outside. 

The author seems hardly to detect his own rogue. 
When Hall coolly announces that a lie must be told 
which will cause a man's death, and is therefore 
equivalent to murder, it is not clear whether this is 
infamous or not. For Charles betrays Glamorgan 
as his son afterwards betrayed Montrose, and we 
are still expected to revere him as something better 
than the enemies who, to save their necks, resorted 
to Pride and Bradshaw. So again, speaking of 
Laud and Strafford, he implies that if they were 
unsuccessful tyrants, they were no tyrants at all. 
That is, to be a tyrant you must succeed, just as 
to be a rebel you must fail. The model of tyrants 
is Caesar Borgia. When he was down, Machiavelli, 
who had thought him worth attentive study, said to 
him that he wondered so good a player should have 
lost the game. He answered that he had foreseen 
every combination except that of himself being 
prostrate with illness when the crash came. That 
miscalculation would become his excuse. 

If this propensity to absolve royal and loyal cul- 
prits comes from sympathy with them, it seems to 
me no better than the crooked Canon of Macaulay, 

1 Situated in the depth of the Inferno. — Canto xviii. line 1. 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 253 

Carlyle, and Froude. The standard, in another 1882 
place, is a low one: The priest who invites Ingle- 
sant not to die with a lie in his mouth reminds him 
that they subordinated their religion to their politi- 
cal intrigues. But what if they subordinated poli- 
tics to their religious interest? To waver about 
ship money until one knows whether Charles or 
Hampden is on the side of one's church is dis- 
honesty. To have no moral test of duty apart from 
religion is to be a fanatic. What Inglesant imputes 
to the Catholics is very near the definition of an 
honest man. For reasons less obvious I am not 
satisfied with the character of Inglesant. We learn 
in the first volume, p. 34, that he never formally 
joined the Church of Rome; and in the second, 
p. 318, that he must have been formally received 
into it. There is a more serious contradiction still. 
His life is singularly blameless and heroic, but one 
does not perceive the safeguard. Three channels 
by which God speaks to the soul are excluded. 
Inglesant will do anything but read the Bible. He 
has never studied to distinguish the voice of the 
Church, the constancy of her teaching, the line of 
least resistance, the law that regulates her move- 
ments. Conscience is a word that does not occur 
during the first 200 pages of religious training. 
Then she asks him, what if they ask him to do 
something that his conscience cannot approve? 
He very truly answers that it is too late to think 
of that. Then the word returns two or three times, 
but the idea is gone. We repeatedly find that he 
knows not right from wrong, and is not scared by 



254 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1882 sin. When reminded of the horrors of the Inqui- 
sition he calmly observes : Not one of these prac- 
tices but has some shadow of truth in it. A priest, 
defending imaginary relics, says : These things are 
true to each of us according as we see them. Ingle- 
sant is content, and does not ask who invents or 
promotes the fable. Having, with some pains, 
forced his master to confess the iniquity of his 
scheme, he adopts it with alacrity. There is not 
a momentary struggle between self-devotion and 
the shock of indignation. The spring is broken. 
The sense is dulled. The voice within is hushed. 
What then kept this man's life so pure in court and 
camp? The book is not written to suggest that 
honour and chivalry are a genuine form or a sub- 
stitute for grace. 

One might suspect that it is the idea which Plato 
transmitted from Socrates, which Cameron, in 1624, 
had revived — that the knowledge of good and evil 
is virtue. But Inglesant possesses the virtue with- 
out the knowledge. He is as destitute of conviction 
as he is free from vice. His one security is Direc- 
tion. He passes from hand to hand, and successive 
teachers impress him for a time, but impart no 
principle. When they fail him, he stands where 
they found him, a safe and contented Churchman, 
not because he has examined all things and chosen 
the best, but because the master he preferred hap- 
pened to be in prison. 

A fine opportunity had been wasted. A clever, 
refined, high-spirited youth, who has won, in a 
religious philosophy, a standing ground apart from 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 255 

Churches, who yet learns to sympathise with them, 1882 
and who sheds his prejudices and illusions as he 
grows in spiritual experience ; that would be a noble 
study in the days of Grotius, Descartes, Lord Her- 
bert, Hammond, Baxter, Roger Williams, Blondel, 
Raynaud, and Pascal. None of these appear on 
the platform with Hobbes and Cressy and Molinos 
— as though, two centuries later, a man should seek 
rest for conscience without going near Channing, j 
Arnold, Newman, Vinet, Neander, Rothe, Schelling, 
or Grundtvig. Last, the terms Romish, papist, 
popery, in so good an artist, make me ask myself 
whether a papist who respects himself would talk of 
heretics, schismatics, apostates, and infidels ? But 
I have become confused from my prolixity. 

I shall be very glad if there is anything in what I 
said that Arthur Lyttelton can turn to account, 
after careful verification. If he will take the trouble 
to examine for himself, there can be no reason to 
allude to anybody else. 

He will abstain, I know, from raising those points 
respecting persecution which would give just 
offence, appearing in this indirect way. To mark 
the enormity of supposing that the Cardinal did not 
know that people used to be burned in Rome, it 
would be enough to say that he cannot have for- 
gotten the reign of Paul V. Down to that reign, 
from 1542 to 1608, the thing was common and 
notorious. After Paul V. there is little that any- 
body would remember who has not made a study of 
such things. This also must be borne in mind, 
that in Rome, unlike Spain, the victims were 



256 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1882 usually strangled and were not committed to the 
flames until they were dead. 

The book alluded to, I. 327, is Molina, on grace. 
The defence about the appearance of the name of 
Quakers would be that it appeared in that very year 
1650. But they are here talked about as early as 
January, as if quite well known. The answer to 
my objection about Sancta Clara would be that the 
similarity of opinions suggested the use of the name. 
But the man is too well known to be treated in that 
unceremonious way. 

To say, I. 137, that among Puritans self-restraint 
and concealment were sins, is so serious an imputa- 
tion, especially the first word, that it should be 
defined which sect was meant. Nobody says that 
Baxter was rude, not even Howe, in private life. 
There is a slovenliness in this use of a big brush. 
Cardinal Howard does not deserve the praise he 
gets, II. 333. He was a very pale figure. 

Observe II. 273. There are no spires in Rome. 
I hear that the author has never been in Italy. 
That accounts for many topographical mistakes, and 
leaves a margin to his credit. 

The date of the steps of the Trinita might per- 
haps be discovered in the life of Cardinal Polignac, 
or in the article on him in Michaud or Didot. It 
matters not ; but the correctness of local and chrono- 
logical colour turns on such points as these. I think 
Cressy could hardly have justified what he says of 
the Fathers. 

On looking over my lengthy prose I find some- 
thing that I must add : — Valdes never renounced 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 257 

Catholicism, but his writings, only lately made ac- 1882 
cessible, are the writings of a Protestant. The 
numbers mentioned in the Irish massacre are, of 
course, monstrously exaggerated, as were the num- 
bers given by Clarendon, Milton, and Baxter. I 
quote them to show the greatness of the alarm. 
The French Jesuits stood by Richelieu and allowed 
one of their number to be exiled for his opposition 
to the German war when, after the peace of Prague, 
it had ceased to be a war in defence of the Protes- 
tants, and was purely aggressive. This was because, 
in 1627, he had made them understand that they 
must leave France if they resisted his will. It was 
easier to associate resistance to Puritanism with the 
Catholic cause than aggression on the Catholic 
Powers in Germany. I do not say that the care 
taken to prevent conversion is absolutely impossible. 
Some Franciscans at that time might have done it ; 
and something like it is told of a Jesuit a few years 
later. 

There is a very curious passage, II. 385, on perse- 
cution : It was these selfsame ideas of the future and 
its relation to this life that actuated their tormentors. 
This is an attempt to look beneath the surface, and 
a soothing tribute to the feelings of those who admire 
Galerius and Calvin and Gregory the Thirteenth. 
The Natural History of Intolerance has not yet been 
written ; but the analysis is not so simple as these 
words imply. Half of the persecution in the Roman 
empire, all the persecution of Huguenots by the 
Valois, and of Roman Catholics under Elizabeth, 
was due to other ideas than those of the future. 



258 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1882 And where religious ideas induced men to side with 
the tormentors against Toleration, there is much 
that is not more sincere or more excusable than the 
ideas that have led to political massacres. The 
opinion expressed covers some of the ground, but 
only a very small part of it. 
But I must stop somewhere. 

Cannes If there are judges and juries in Britain, Mac- 
Mareksg millan would expose himself to fine and imprison- 
ment by printing what I write to you. You will 
see in a moment, I am sure, why it could never be. 
It would be an offence to the author, because 
there is no allowance of the large measure of praise 
and even of admiration due to him — nothing but 
the Catalogue of objections suggested to me by the 
belief that I was writing to a too fervent admirer of 
the book. Without my signature it would be a 
stab in the dark; and with my name it would be 
insufferably pretentious, uncalled for, and unfair. 
And I, who make a profession of knowing about 
Conclaves and the like, should be bound to visit 
more amply, if not more severely, the strangely 
inadequate and pointless narrative of the election of 
Chigi. Few things are more curious and dramatic 
than the Conclaves, and this one is particularly well 
known. 

Besides, Fraser is sure to be very hostile, both in 
detail and in respect of the scope and spirit of the 
work. He is sure to quarrel with Jesuit and Cardi- 
nal, and to say much of what I have said in strict 
confidence. Please, dismiss the thought; and if 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 259 

you compliment anything, let it be the paper and 1882 
handwriting. 

That is a very kind question about Gardiner ; and 
as I have at hand, here, the means of learning more 
without risk of indiscretion, I had better postpone 
my answer. If, as a rule, those pensions are granted 
to people almost destitute of means, the case could 
not well be admitted. He ought to be at the Record 
Office instead of the present Hardy. It is in Jessel's 
gift, and he asked my advice, specially excluding 
clergymen, and thereby losing the two best men, 
Brewer and Stubbs. I suggested Freeman, Gardi- 
ner, and Bond. Freeman sent me word that he 
would not take it. Jessel told me he would appoint 
Bond — who is now the very good and estimable, 
but gloomy successor of Panizzi — but that he had 
been told that Bond was a Catholic. He said that 
a Jew was not strong enough to appoint a Catholic 
Keeper of the Archives. Bond is a Broad Church- 
man, and the report arose only from my recom- 
mendation. Gardiner therefore remained ; but it 
was resolved, under I know not what pressure, to 
keep the thing in the Hardy family. Meantime, I 
think Gardiner succeeded Brewer in his professor- 
ship at King's College — not, I imagine, remunera- 
tive, but still an obstacle. 

Yes, I agree about Forbes, and rather think he 
is one of the men Simon speaks of, and defies the 
Sorbonne to meet — unless I am mixing up the two 
divines of that name. 

Spinola wrote no book. He was a Franciscan 
bishop, Imperial Confessor at Vienna, and produced 



260 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1882 several schemes of union, on the part of Rome, 
which differ from other such by being definite and 
sincere. Leibniz, and the Calixtine school of 
Lutherans, were very near adopting his plan ; but 
as he was an agent of pope and emperor when 
Louis XIV. was the enemy of both, Bossuet con- 
trived to baffle him. What was known of these 
transactions down to our day is in Pichler's work on 
Leibniz. Much more has since come out in the 
" Correspondence of the Electress Sophia," and there 
is more to come, whenever the Madonna of the 
Future 1 is unveiled. 

Of John Inglesant, let me say that it would be a 
very fair text to work on — how far the pagan, 
human virtues, coupled with qualities which are not, 
in a spiritual sense, virtues, such as courage, delicacy, 
good nature, veracity, pride, can accomplish the out- 
ward, visible work of grace. But that is clearly not 
the author's design. 

If Gardiner's paper is very hostile, and you then 
think it worth while to send my remarks to Mr. 
Shorthouse, 2 through his publisher or otherwise, 
that is a case governed by the saying of the younger 
Pompey. 3 

I liked what I saw of the Fox Memorials during 
a very short inspection ; and yesterday, lunching at 
the parsonage at Mentone, I found the Life of 
Lowder. The accounts of Prince Leopold were 

1 " The History of Liberty." 

2 The letter in question was sent to Mr. Shorthouse, and was 
answered in detail by him. 

3 " Ah, this thou shouldst have done and not have spoken on't. 

In me 'tis villainy : in thee it had been good service." 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 261 

distressing. Fancy my finding myself with two 1882 
excellent clergymen, both ardent Gladstonians, and 
both wishing for the admission of Bradlaugh. 
Otherwise my journey was not altogether successful, 
as I got half a sunstroke, which you have already 
seen traces of in my letter. 



The description you quote of Coleridge is not Cannes 
more inaccurate than epigram requires. I have A ? rtl2 7 
just drawn up a list of recommended authors for 
my son, as being the company I should like him to 
keep, after me ; and after some hesitation I included 
S. T. C. in the number. But he has to be balanced 
by sounder stuff. 

Lecky only arrived two days ago, and is scarcely 
begun. But the beginning and the account of 
Junius struck me as very far indeed ahead of all his 
former writings. There is a good deal of slovenly 
writing, and it is puerile to write modern history 
from printed books ; but this is a wonderfully solid 
performance. You will not think it as amusing as 
Froude's " Carlyle," when you come to it, but much 
more nutritious. 

You depressed my spirits the other day by show- 
ing that the majority of 39 did not amount to quite 
so much as I, from a distance, had imagined. And 
the budget, though open to very little remark, does 
not do much to raise them. If I was not conscious 
of being the worst accountant yet discovered, I 
should say that there is a slip in one of the calcula- 
tions of Savings Bank deposits. 



262 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1882 Gardiner for some reason did not publish his 
article. ... If Arthur Lyttelton, out of pure 
cussedness, wishes to put in the note you speak of, 
I would like to see what it is he says, starting from 
the materials buried in my letter. 



Cannes Lecky's merits stand undiminished by further 

ay3 acquaintance, but the deficiencies become more 

glaring. The character of Burke, though in my 

opinion very defective, seems to me the best I 

have read in the language. 

The May Fraser contains his article, 1 and I 
greatly fear that his judgment will be as critical as 
my own. 

I wonder whether you have the Temps or D'ebats 
in Downing Street, and have read the speeches of 
Pasteur and Renan. I do not remember so in- 
teresting a reception, and what is serious is that 
the most powerful intellectual force in France has 
declared, virtually, for materialism. 

Cannes We have nothing later than Tuesday's speech, 
ays so that the lines are not traceable into the future, 
and I am still in a very anxious and doubting 
stage. 

It is not apparent why Spencer occupies a posi- 
tion between earth and heaven. He looks like a 
warming-pan. Not for a prince, for that is out of 

1 Mr. S. R. Gardiner's " Review of John Inglesant." 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 263 

the question. For Dufferin ? 1 But Dufferin, who 1882 
is easy, dexterous, and popular, has not the sterling 
and transparent quality of Spencer himself. It may 
well be the basis of a vast change in the machinery 
for the Government of Ireland; but that would 
require legislation for which there is no time. Per- 
plexity No. 1. 

Then one must conclude that the change comes 
from assurances given by the moderate Irish mem- 
bers, that it would enable them to moderate the 
raging ones. But to ensure that, they must have 
a finger in the pie, and Russell or Shaw would 
have to have the offer of the Irish Office. It seems 
clear, from the delay, that that is not to be; and 
one hears of Lefevre and Chamberlain. . . . Per- 
plexity 2. 

There is a look of uncertainty and want of clear- 
ness about the whole thing. Cowper resigns ; after 
an interval, half a successor is appointed ; then the 
suspects are released ; then Forster resigns ; and 
then, after another interval showing want of prepa- 
ration, there is a new Secretary. This way of 
doing whatever is to be done suggests that the 
Ministry had not the foresight to anticipate opinion, 
or strength to lead it. Dropping one colleague 
after another in their Irish course makes that course 
appear wanting in deliberation and design, and 
strengthens the notion that, under heavy pressure, 
they may be driven nobody knows where, like men 
who yield, not like men who lead. I presume that 
there is some evidence of ensured improvement, 

1 The late Marquis of Dufferin. 



264 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1882 consequent upon concession. But one doubts that 
again, when Forster resigns ; and it seems that the 
change is in the ideas more than in the facts. As 
to any gain on Irish opinion from the grace of 
concession, I should not expect it, as so many- 
suspects remain in custody. If so, then the advan- 
tage would be derived from the new position of the 
Irish leaders — a very doubtful policy. Then again, 
I don't like the moment ; immediately after Cairns's 
stroke, and the untimely publication of his draft 
report. 1 I don't like anything which looks like 
overtrumping, because it is not fit for such a Prime 
Minister to follow initiative, whether that of oppo- 
nents, or of English or Irish opinion. 

These misgivings occur to me although you 
know, if nobody else does, that I was not convinced 
by the argument in favour of coercion, and saw no 
evidence of greater demoralisation than was the 
direct effect of actual suffering. Since then there 
has been so much atrocity in Ireland, so much 
foreign influence, and so manifest a change for the 
worse in the conduct of the clergy, that I have grown 
reconciled to the strong hand. Even if full of sym- 
pathy with the spirit of the present policy, I cannot 
satisfy myself with the mode of its inception, and I 
shall not feel comfortable for some days, until the 
design grows clear. To you, they will be intensely 
interesting, and I shall be very glad indeed to hear 
that confidence reigns in Downing Street. 
1 On the working of the Irish Land Act, 1881. 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 265 

Post Office and Submarine Telegraphs 1882 

Cannes, 5.14, 8/5, 11.54, 
on the 8/5, 1882. 

Do not let him lose confidence in himself. 1 

Acton. 

We have only vague reports in French news- Cannes 
papers, but I cannot wait for full accounts of the ay9 
tragedy that touches us all so nearly, to give you 
my warm tribute of sympathy and sorrow. It is 
shocking to think of her, so worthy of happiness 
and so afflicted. You, I know, have, of all people, 
the most soothing hand for the most cruel wounds. 

It must have been a dreadful blow in your own 
home, and at a distance one grows anxious about 
many things. I apprehend a violent burst of pas- 
sion in the country, with despair of healing such 
disease with lenient arts ; and, if the tide turns, the 
change will be felt in Parliament, and will be used 
by men quite capable of seeing that Mr. Gladstone's 
statesmanship is confirmed by the very crime which 
will condemn it in common minds. Assuming that 
some of the Cabinet assent reluctantly to the heroic 
policy, and that the last few weeks have not added 
to his personal ascendency, I fear that they will 
either forsake him or urge him to forsake his own 
ideal lines. Thinking of this, of his strong affec- 
tions, of the shadow on the hearth, I could not 
restrain my wish to send you my small vote of 
confidence. 

For we heard at first that Spencer had instantly 

1 Sent immediately after the murders in the Phoenix Park. 



266 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1882 resigned. 1 I was ashamed to show myself, and 
whispered to my family how Nicholas, the bad 
emperor, faced a rebellious army. There is very 
different news to-day. I gather that Spencer re- 
mains, that Forster redeems many faults by offering 
to go back, that Parnell has made his choice 
between murder and conciliation, that the Oppo- 
sition holds its hand, expecting Mr. Gladstone to 
turn against himself. 

It seems to me that much ground must inevi- 
tably be lost, and that the true moral of this catas- 
trophe can never be made visible to the average 
Englishman. Still I see great opportunities of re- 
covery, and I know in what spirit I hope that he 
has had the strength to receive the blow aimed 
through Freddy Cavendish at himself. 

I long so much to hear from you. If you can 
think, in sad days like these, of anything but the 
sorrow that is near you, do give an affectionate 
message from me to Mr. and Mrs. Gladstone, and 
send me, when you have a quiet moment, a line to 
Munich. I start almost immediately. 

St. Martin Alexandria, Bright, and a vote of censure have 
Rud, Haute k een a great distraction from our Irish troubles. 

Autricne < ° 

July 20 If Bright, the Minister, agreed to the orders, and if 
Bright, the Quaker, woke up at the execution of the 
orders, then his conduct is unstatesmanlike and 
weak. I conclude, — not having Monday's debate 
yet, — that he resigns not because of the bombard- 

1 It need hardly be said that for this rumour there was no sort of 
foundation. 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 267 

ment, but because, having troops on the way, re- 1882 
membering the example of Paris, warned by the 
terrified correspondents, we nevertheless bombarded 
without taking precautions against consequences 
that were not improbable. If he takes that ground, 
he will, I suppose, be angry and mischievous, and 
his position will encourage the disaffected Whigs ; 
and it will be awkward even if part of the blame 
rests on the Powers ; because, when we took things 
into our own hands, we were bound to do all that 
was necessary. 

I very much wish for a completer defence than 
I have seen yet ; and at the same time I think that 
a good defence, with some measure of political 
success in Egypt, will be a source of new. strength, 
and if there is some blame, I anxiously ask myself 
whether it lies at the Foreign Office, at the War 
Office, or at the Admiralty. 

It is provoking not to know most of the names of 
the people going out on this difficult errand. That 
is one side of the question. The other, nearer home, 
for me, is that you are still going through terrible 
worry, and that the wear and tear must be telling on 
Mr. Gladstone. I ask myself one question, which 
most people would think an unlikely one, whether 
he thoroughly controls his colleagues, and whether 
the work of the House absorbs him too much. . . . 
I hope you sat next to Bright. . . . 



We are living here in my brother-in-law's house ; St. Martin, 
and I will tell him that he must prepare for better 7 U ? 29 



268 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1882 guests, as soon as you tell me that it is not the base- 
less fabric of a vision. He is not married ; so that 
there is no one to be on ceremony with ; and his 
house is as big as many Tegernsees. Alfred * will 
be as welcome here as he is wherever his bright 
face is shown. 

It is impossible not to feel that the Ministry grows 
weaker by the associates it has lost as well as by the 
associates that decline to join. There are now the 
ingredients of an alternative Liberal Cabinet, con- 
sisting of men fairly equal to those now in office — 
with the necessary exception — and hostile to them. 
The ground is getting narrow under our feet, and the 
full force of the party does not support Ministers. 
The want of a successor to Bright indicates too 
clearly that Mr. Gladstone, though still master of 
his majority, is not what he has been, master of his 
party. I hope for new arrangements at the end 
of the Session, and for a real gain of strength 
from ultimate success in Egypt. But, like Ire- 
land, it is a harvest that will ripen slowly. I won- 
der whether things have seemed to you as gloomy 
as this, or whether the light before you dispels the 
darkness. 

Mozley's book, and all others published in Eng- 
land since January, I have not seen. He interests 
me more than almost any other of our divines, and 
I look forward to a good time with his reminiscences, 
if, as I understand, it is the divine, and not the mani- 
fold writer. 2 

1 Lyttelton. a It was the "manifold writer." 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 269 

1882 
With all my heart I adopt your scheme, Reform, Tegemsee 
Dissolution, and then, let Politics make way for a still Au s ust 4 
higher and worthier cause. 



Salisbury's collapse * is less decisive than mine, and Paris 
although there is a pleasant corner in the House of ugus I2 
Lords, my journey ends in nothing better than disap- 
pointment and in having set you to write notes all 
day. My accounts show that they are not comfort- 
able at home, so that I have no right to be basking 
in the ethereal sunshine of Downing Street. 

It was a monstrous thing to do, suggestive of Mrs. 
Todgers, but I left the Dante in his 2 room at the 
H. of Commons. It was too late to ring at No. io, s 
for I kept him talking till near eleven. But there 
was some symbolic propriety about the title 4 of the 
unbound volume — unbound because they did not 
remember the binding of the rest. Of course the 
impression of my one well-filled day in town — even 
with the part of Cordelia left out — is the very oppo- 
site of that under which I lately wrote. The session 
ends with a great blaze of his mastery and power. 
But the best of it all is, that I found him so wonder- 
fully vigorous and well and even content. It did 
indeed impress me most deeply. 

It is remarkable how little he chooses to realise 

1 Lord Salisbury was unsuccessful in persuading his party to throw out 
the Irish Arrears Bill in the House of Lords. 

2 Mr. Gladstone's. 8 Downing Street. 4 " Paradise" 



270 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1882 the tremendous loss of authority and power which 
the party will incur by his retirement, and he has 
no idea how little he would soon be in harmony 
with them. However, Ireland is not all right yet ; 
and there are obvious complications impending in 
Egypt which he cannot leave unsolved. With that, 
there will still be time for the Reform Bill. 

Late at night I found slipped under my door 
your rejected letter, which will be cherished with 
the rest. If writing made up for sight ! 

This letter is written by scraps, in various places 
and countries. I crossed with Forster, on his way to 
Russia, and got him to tell me his inner history. 
I shall be at St. Martin the day after to-mor 
row. . . . 

Shorthouse's * letter could not go with Dante, and 
I will enclose it in my next. I have got Democracy. 
The Mays, considered an authority on the subject, 
do not think much of it. Forster does, and says it 
is not by Mrs. Adams. He says that Bright has no 
idea that he left either too early or too late. Will 
you — very earnestly — put my excuses before Mrs. 
Gladstone for my way of dealing with her boundless 
hospitality ? 

1883 I wonder whether you would come to lunch 
La to-morrow, Saturday? Perhaps I could inscribe 
Madekme m y 0ur mos t private book the list of the hundred 

Cannes J x 

Feb. 2 works that have most influenced human history. 



1 Letter written by Mr. Shorthouse in answer to Lord Acton's criti- 
cism of " John Inglesant." 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 271 

. . . These books are enclosed to show Mr. Glad- 1883 
stone what good German prose is, in expounding Feb. 13 
difficult, very difficult, questions. Also, a little book, 
by a very famous Dane who has grown more and 
more to be a power since his death. . . . 



After seeking a moment's distraction at a chateau La 



near Marseilles I came home to find your letter, so 
kindly written in the intervals of Parisian dissipa- 
tions. 

The failure of Challemel was truly sad, but I hope 
that Fedora, 1 following the little dinner on the Boule- 
vard, made up for it. The tranquillity and sameness 
of Cannes will soon be thrust far out of sight by 
the centre of European life. We do our best, in 
your absence, to be a little worldly. Bright, 
Houghton, and the Mallets lunch to-day. I am 
to meet Colonel Hay at tea, and the little bishop 2 
at dinner this evening. 

... It is pleasant to think that Lyons made you 
enjoy Paris, and divined the one thing you all have 
a passion for, and he seems to have done the politi- 
cal part of his work very well by bringing you into 
contact both with the ruling men and with the Left 
Centre. That was just what was wanting to redress 
the Wolvertonian balance. 

I am a little sorry that the visit at the Elysee was 
not more interesting. Grevy's speeches in 1848 
were very sensible indeed, but he seems to be push- 
ing the theory of the roi faineant much beyond the 
American, or even the Merovingian, limit, if he 

x Sara Bernhardt. 2 Of Gibraltar. The late Dr. Sandford. 



Madeleine 
March 3 



272 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1883 avoids politics with such a visitor. Then I rejoice 
much at the visit to Jules Simon, though you don't 
say whether it was spontaneous or a return, and a 
curious question is, where was the limit drawn? 
Did he and Broglie, Decazes, Harcourt, avoid each 
other ? If these former ambassadors did not call, it 
is matter for speculation. At Marseilles, I found 
myself in a nest of Legitimists, and learnt that the 
chief of them, Coriolis, lately asked the Count of 
Chambord for leave to raise the white flag. If there 
was more of this kind, it is odd that the advocates 
of expulsion made so little of it. If it had been 
possible to stay longer at Paris, it would have been 
a very desirable thing, for they do not really know 
or understand him, 1 and the conflict of forces there 
would be worth observing otherwise than in Blowitz 
or Lyons's despatches. 

It is a pity to have missed Mrs. Craven, who 
would take to you intensely if you saw more of each 
other — a woman of great talent and elevation of mind, 
but who has just written on the Salvation Army a 
paper that seems to portend the approach of mental 
decay. Lady Blennerhassett is very far her superior. 
Tell her all about Cannes if you see her. . . . Mrs. 
Green writes me a touching letter to say that she 
has no hope left. . . . 



La This is only a hasty line of thanks and congratu- 

Matlk™* l a ti° n on y° ur prosperous journey. I have not yet 

seen either the Wolvertons or the Anson family, 

1 Mr. Gladstone. 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 273 

and to-day there are a couple of inches of snow over 1* 
Cannes. Incorrigible Potter circulates the Financial 
Reform Almanac in the name of the Cobden Club, 
for which Reay, A. Russell, and others have de- 
nounced him. He asked me to read it through, 
which has been the melancholy occupation of a 
whole day, ending in agreement with the critics. 

I am losing Mallet, who is less well and goes to 
Mentone. Also, Colonel Hay, 1 Lincoln's secretary 
and biographer, who proved a most agreeable ac- 
quaintance. Yesterday, there was an expedition to 
Pegomas (Houghton, Dempsters, &c.) and I find that 
the old lady 2 is the original of St. Monica in Ary 
Scheffer's picture. Myers, translator of Homer, is 
here, with a nice, newly-married wife, and Cross is in 
great force, writing the biography 3 and wanting me 
to read the papers. 

Thanks for the MS., with the answer for which 
pray express my acknowledgments. 

You have heard that the Ashburnham MSS. are 
offered to the Museum, and that some of them were 
stolen from public libraries in France. We pro- 
pose, if we buy at all, to resell to France as many of 
these as can be proved to be stolen, and Delisle, the 
French Panizzi, comes this week to produce his 
evidence, amicably, before the Museum experts. 

I say nothing about the purchase, and have only 

insisted that was a thief, and that we must, as 

we did before, make terms with Paris. But I want 
you to know that Leopold Delisle is one of the most 

1 Mr. Secretary Hay. 2 Mrs. Hollond. 3 Of George Eliot. 



274 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

eminent scholars in France, that he is a most esti- 
mable and high-minded man, tho' not a conspicuous 
bookmaker or litterateur, that he stands as high in 
Germany as any Frenchman living, and that I have 
long enjoyed the privilege of his friendly acquaint- 
ance. So that, if it should be otherwise feasible, 
any civility shown him by the P.M. 1 on this his 
very peculiar international mission, would be taken 
in France as a marked sign of courtesy and good- 
will, just after the visit to France. 

This is quite independent of the decision the 
Treasury may come to about the grant. I may add 
that Delisle is perfectly trustworthy, and that we are 
safe in the hands of the Museum people, to come to 
right judgments as to the MSS. . . . 

Cross has shown me, with some secrecy, a very 
curious letter of Dickens, declaring that only a 
woman could have written the " Scenes from Clerical 
Life." But he gives no good reason, and I am per- 
suaded that he had heard the secret from Herbert 
Spencer, who at once detected it. I dare not express 
my doubt. John Morley writes pleasantly, but says 
he still feels like a fish out of water on the benches. 

This is written at your table in considerable soli- 
tude and vacancy. 

• •••••• 

I have just heard that Green is dead, and I must 
go to Mentone. . . . 

La I hope to see them at the station, and then we 

can make plans for next week. The hotel is very 

1 Prime Minister. 



Madeleine 
March 21 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 275 

full, but Cross tells me that there is just room for 1883 
them. Ill-timed is really all I say against that pas- 
sage of the lecture ; 1 and, if other people had gone 
straight, it would not even have been ill-timed. My 
censure has never gone farther than that. 

Nobody can well be more strongly persuaded than 
I am of the necessity, the practical and moral neces- 
sity, of governing nations by consent, national con- 
sent being proved both by the vapour of opinion, 
and by the definite mechanism of representation. I 
am not even surprised that many Irishmen should 
be suspicious of the goodwill of a country which 
turns as readily to a Tory government as to a Lib- 
eral, which is seldom awake to its sins and the con- 
sequences of its sins, unless roused by terror, and 
which has made amends only under compulsion, or 
under the intense, but not permanent, influence of 
one resolute mind. Even that is not all that I con- 
cede to them. Therefore, in substance, Herbert has 
all my sympathy ; only, if anything awkward arises, 
it is his father who has to find the remedy or bear 
the burden. The danger now is that the great 
wave, of his own raising, that has sustained his 
policy of generosity, and even of eventual confi- 
dence, will fall. People will lose, not only sympathy, 
which is not to the point, but hopefulness. I cannot 
even say that they will be wrong to lose hope. But 
if men cease to look forward to success, they cannot 
be made to go straight by looking back to their own 
evil deeds. Nobody, then, would stand by the P.M. 

1 Mr. Herbert Gladstone's Lecture on Ireland, in which he used the 
words " Irish Parliament." 



276 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1883 except pure Democrats, like Chamberlain and 
Morley. If I was a minister, I would say, not that 
we shall devise new schemes to disarm this new 
evidence, not that we shall relax our efforts in 
just indignation and despair, but that we shall 
go on with our appeal from the ill-disposed to the 
well-disposed, pursuing a policy which is not dic- 
tated by momentary hope or momentary fear, but 
proceeds from the heart and spirit of the prin- 
ciples which are our raison d'etre as a party and 
as a government. But I don't say that I should 
succeed. 

If flurry and apprehension penetrate Downing 
Street, nothing can sustain Mr. Gladstone better 
than your own serenity. Be true to him and to 
his cause even if these odious crimes continue, even 
when you feel that the harvest will not be reaped in 
his time. The mills of God grind slowly. 

It is very easy to speak words of wisdom from a 
comfortable distance, when one sees no reality, no 
details, none of the effect on men's minds. What 
is glorious is the way in which Mr. Gladstone rides 
on the whirlwind. You need not wonder much what 
I am thinking of it all. 

As long ago as 1870 I ceased to be sanguine that 
we could govern Ireland successfully. The best 
influence over the Irish people is the influence of 
the clergy, and an ultramontane clergy is not proof 
against the sophistry by which men justify murder 
or excuse murderers. The assassin is only a little 
more resolutely logical or a little bolder than the 
priest. 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 277 

I hope you will read and like Montegut's articles 1883 
on George Eliot, especially the second, in the Revue 
of March 15. See pp. 307 and 329 for some very 
excellent criticism. 

Miss B. met Cross here at lunch, was intensely 
excited, and explained it by saying that he is Ladis- 
law. But I cannot believe it. They say that Doro- 
thea is here too. H has been in great force. 

He is unwell now, but looks forward to M 's 

arrival to-day, declaring, with accurate self-know- 
ledge, that he likes nothing so much as an 
impostor. 

He has given me Bradley's Recollections to read, 
from which I learned very little, and Stephen's very 
curious history of our criminal law. 

Oscar -Browning is here, divided between the 
French Revolution and the Gracchi — the most 
interesting of all purely secular topics. 

The Wickhams are most inaccessible people, only La 
to be seen on the road to Gourdon or St. Cezaire. M" dele ™ e 

March ji 

I have had only a glimpse of them ; but we hope to 
overtake them between Chateau Scott and S. Paul's 
on Sunday. They have some wild scheme of visit- 
ing Languedoc. 

. Cross told me that he had asked for some criticisms 
of mine which you told him of. I answered that 
I did not believe you would send them, and he said • 
that if you did, he would forward them unread. 
But I am sure there is nothing of any possible 
use to him. He is very communicative, and I am 
to see her letters and to advise as to publication. 



278 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1883 What I have seen is of such a kind that merely 
strung together with a few short notes, it would 
make a very interesting book : " Memorials of 
George Eliot." 

The real answer to your remark 1 about that list 2 
is that which Johnson gave about fetlock. 3 I have 
nothing to say about physical science that is not a 
reminiscence of conversations with Owen or Hooker, 
Paget or Tyndall ; and it would be important to put 
down all the decisive works in those branches. I have 
tried to know the books on the history and method 
of discovery, the laws of scientific progress, and the 
tests of truth and error ; and I find that this is a matter 
which very few scientific men take any interest in. 

If I must defend my list, this is the sort of sophism 
I would employ : — 

We all know some twenty or thirty predominant 
currents of thought or attitudes of mind, or system- 
bearing principles, which jointly or severally weave 
the web of human history and constitute the civilised 
opinion of the age. All these, I imagine, a serious 
man ought to understand, in whatever strength or 
weakness they possess, in their causes and effects, and 
in their relations to each other. The majority of 
them are either religious or substitutes for religion. 
For instance, Lutheran, Puritan, Anglican, Ultramon- 
tane, Socinian, Congregational, Mystic, Rationalist, 
Utilitarian, Pantheist, Positivist, Pessimist, Material- 

1 The predominance of books on religion and the few on science. 

2 The list of the hundred books given by Lord Acton to his corre- 
spondent. 

3 " Ignorance, madam, sheer ignorance." 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 279 

ist, and so on. All understanding of history depends 1883 
on one's understanding the forces that make it, of 
which religious forces are the most active, and the 
most definite. We cannot follow all the variations 
of a human mind, but when we know the religious 
motive, that the man was an Anabaptist, an Arminian, 
a Deist or a Jansenist, we have the master key, we 
stand on known ground, we are working a sum that 
has been, at least partially, worked out for us, we 
follow a computed course, and get rid of guesses and 
accidents. Thirdly (I am thinking, let us say, of my 
own son), we are not considering what will suit an 
untutored savage or an illiterate peasant woman who 
would never come to an end of the Imitation or the 
Serious Call. Her religion may be enough for 
heaven, without other study. Not so with a man liv- 
ing in the world, in constant friction with adversaries, 
in constant contemplation of religious changes, sen- 
sible of the power which is exerted by strange doc- 
trines over minds more perfect, characters that are 
stronger, lives that are purer than his own. He is 
bound to know the reason why. First, because, 
if he does not, his faith runs a risk of sudden ruin. 
Secondly, for a reason which I cannot explain without 
saying what you may think bad psychology or bad 
dogma — I think that faith implies sincerity, that it is 
a gift that does not dwell in dishonest minds. To be 
sincere a man must battle with the causes of error 
that beset every mind. He must pour constant 
streams of electric light into the deep recesses where 
prejudice dwells, and passion, hasty judgments, and 
wilful blindness deem themselves unseen. He must 



280 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1883 continually grub up the stumps planted by all man- 
ner of unrevised influence. The subtlest of all such 
influences is not family, or college, or country, or 
class, or party, but religious antagonism. There 
is much more danger for a high-principled man of 
doing injustice to the adherent of false doctrine, 
of judging with undeserved sympathy the conspicu- 
ous adherent of true doctrine, than of hating a 
Frenchman or loving a member of Brooks's. Many 
a man who thinks the one disgraceful is ready to 
think the other more than blameless. To develop 
and perfect and arm conscience is the great achieve- 
ment of history, the chief business of every life, and 
the first agent therein is religion or what resembles 
religion. That is my sophism, beyond Dr. Johnson. 
But I think I represent Anglicanism by only one 
book, or two at most. Others, such as books on 
Church and State, cover much secular ground. 
Luckily, the paper limit stops me in the middle 
of a long prose. 



. . . Here, at last, I am resting from hard times 
at Marienbad, where the waters get into one's head, 
as my letter will probably show. You insist on my 
recording everything on which you will disagree, so 
I must say that I should have voted more in royal 
than episcopal company. 1 In our Church and in 
the countries I have lived in much, one is so accus- 
tomed to those marriages that one does not think 
of a law to prevent them. Then as to Egypt, I was 

1 On the Deceased Wife's Sister Bill. 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 281 

not orthodox as to the policy of the argument in 1883 
favour of Lesseps, but vehemently comforted by the 
line taken, to make no sordid profit out of our 
military position, and to resist every entanglement 
that would indefinitely prolong the occupation. 
When I consider that our presence there should be 
the pivot for the settlement of the Eastern question, 
and the means of civilising Africa, I can see so 
much to dazzle ambitious politicians that I fear no 
minister but one will ever be strong enough — in 
ascendency as well as in moral power — to evacu- 
ate, and I complacently take note of that additional 
steam to my propeller, whenever the question of 
retirement stirs again ; and my third heresy is about 
the Pope. His declaration was concerted, I sup- 
pose, to hit some of the clergy between wind and 
water, and so had a political, not a moral aim. We 
may get embarrassed if we prompt and promote the 
political influence of the Pope, whose principles are 
necessarily, whose interests are generally, opposed 
to~ our own. It is as dangerous for us that his 
political authority should be obeyed in Irish con- 
fessionals as that, in this instance, it should be 
defied. Having morally supported the movement 
which upset his sovereignty, being prepared to 
oppose any movement to restore it, we come with a 
bad grace to ask him to prop and protect our author- 
ity in our dominions. Long ago I remember writ- 
ing to headquarters that it would become impossible 
— impossible for Liberals — to govern Ireland after 
the Council ; and although I am avowedly the 
worst of prophets, this prophecy has had a good 



282 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1883 deal of confirmation. It was an interesting question 
whether the Pope would definitely and uncondition- 
ally condemn murder, whether from religious or 
political motives. It would have borne untold 
consequences, as a direct revocation of the Vatican 
system, which stands or falls with the doctrine that 
one may murder a Protestant. But I don't believe 
that so audacious a change of front would have 
moved a single priest in Ireland. 

Of George, 1 in the sixpenny edition, I had a 
glimpse at Cannes. The better part of him, with 
more moderation and philosophy, and a wider 
induction, may be found in the writings of the 
academic Socialists, who, in the last ten years, have 
occupied almost all the Chairs of Germany, and 
who have been the warmest admirers of the Irish 
policy. 

One can hardly congratulate you . . . about St. 
Peter's. 2 At Montreux I met a newly-married young 
clergyman whose ugliness almost made me take him 

for , and who assured me that it was offered to 

Holland. The dean of St. Paul's 3 was at Munich the 
other day, and delighted Dollinger, who believes, in 
consequence, that a more mischievous fellow than 
Chamberlain does not eat bread. He also sent him, 
and enabled me to read, Mozley's washy " Recollec- 
tions." Liddon, I see, is busy with Rosmini, in the in- 
tervals of Pusey. 4 Rosmini will interest you if the 
book ripens. He had much of Newman, and nearly 

1 Henry George, author of " Progress and Poverty." 

2 Eaton Square. 8 R. W. Church. 

4 Liddon translated Rosmini's "Five Wounds of the Church." 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 283 

reformed the papacy. But I am troubled with a 1883 
doubt. His book was answered, by Passaglia, 
Thenier, Curci, and others, and it was condemned 
by the Index. Rosmini wrote a long and curious 
defence of it, which he printed, but did not publish, 
so as not to defy his censors. Liddon ought to 
have this defence before him, to strengthen his text 
withal. Perhaps Lockhart, and the other English 
Rosminians, may scruple to give it to him, lest they 
break the measured silence of their chief. It may 
be worth while to ask the eloquent and impulsive 
Canon, whenever you see him, whether he knows of 
it. Do let me thank you warmly for speaking of me 
to Mrs. Craven. She was almost my earliest friend, 
and I am shocked to think that I seemed unfaithful 
to memories forty years old. She was intimate with 
my mother before I was born. What does it matter 
that she also bores me a good deal by her restless- 
ness, her curiosity and indiscretion, her want of 
serenity, &c. ? I always liked her in spite of it, and 
she was always a great, but uncomfortable, admirer 
of Mr. Gladstone. Not so Waddington. You must 
have seen at once that he is a very estimable, solid, 
deeply religious man. There is hardly so great a 
scholar in France, and I think he is the only French- 
man before whom Mommsen has retracted a state- 
ment. That indeed is his proper line. Like George 
Lewis, he is really happiest among his coins and 
inscriptions, and was never made for the active life 
in which his high character, his knowledge, and now 
his willingness to serve a party not his own, have 
carried him so far. He has more caution than go, 



284 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1883 and has neither eloquence, nor influence over men. 
Above all things, he is cautious to do nothing that 
would enable adversaries to accuse his patriotism. 
His language about Egypt, and the future of France 
in the East, would seem exaggerated, but I dare say 
you have read " Memories of Old Friends," a book 
meant for invalids at Bohemian wells, and curiously 
displaying English minds as they were about 1840. 
In the second edition Mill's letters are appended, in 
one of which he describes Tocqueville's opinion that 
one must not lower national pride, " almost the only 
elevated sentiment that remains in considerable 
strength." Waddington might adopt those words 
with even greater justice now. He once befriended 
me, so that I am bound to speak up for him. We 
had met but once, at the Embassy, when he asked 
me to dinner, and arranged that I should meet, be- 
sides Lyons, Wimpfen and Hohenlohe, whom he 
knew to be old friends of mine, Louis Arco, and the 
three most learned men in Paris, and then he gave 
me his box at the Francais. But whilst I testify 
what a good fellow he is, it is necessary, highly 
necessary, to add that he is not a friend of Mr. 
Gladstone. That class of scholars to which he 
belongs, men busy with inscriptions, ruins, medals, 
vases, contriving thereby to amend a text or fix a 
date, inevitably resent the spirit in which Mr. Glad- 
stone studies antiquity, carrying with him emotions 
and ideals derived from elsewhere, and considerably 
disturbing accepted habits and conclusions. Then 
it is very hard for an extra-patriotic Frenchman to 
see with patience a powerful government that does 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 285 

not always use its strength, that accepts rebuke and 1883 
repulse, and is ready to draw in the outposts of the 
empire. Whatever the true cause, I am pretty sure 
of the fact that he will come to Hawarden, like 
Ruskin, curious to probe the great Gladstonian 
mystery, not favourably prepossessed. I hope you 
will have him soon, and deal justly with him. 

When you sit down to Macaulay, remember that 
the Essays are really flashy and superficial. He was 
not above par in literary criticism; his Indian 
articles will not hold water; and his two most 
famous reviews, on Bacon and Ranke, show his 
incompetence. The essays are only pleasant read- 
ing, and a key to half the prejudices of our age. It 
is the History (with one or two speeches) that is 
wonderful. He knew nothing respectably before 
the seventeenth century, he knew nothing of for- 
eign history, of religion, philosophy, science, or art. 
His account of debates has been thrown into the 
shade by Ranke, his account of diplomatic affairs, 
by Klopp. He is, I am persuaded, grossly, basely 
unfair. Read him therefore to find out how it 
comes that the most unsympathetic of critics can 
think him very nearly the greatest of English 
writers. 

My good friend Bright 1 got me into controversy 
by sending me Beard's " Hibbert Lectures," on the 
Reformation. There was a great deal to say, with 
the usual result; but you would think them inter- 
esting as a stimulant. Have I ever told you that I 
have read the Diaries, letters, &c., of G. Eliot? 

1 The Master of University. 



286 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1883 Cross wants me to review them in the Nineteenth 
Century, or at least wanted ; but I know not where 
he is, or whether he still wishes it. 

I always see Miss Helen Gladstone in the papers, 
and suppose she is with you. I don't know whether 
Miss Renouf is in her house. 1 She is a sort of god- 
child of mine, and her father is, without exception, 
the most learned Englishman I know. The daugh- 
ter of such a man should be something unusual; 
the mother, too, is of a clever family, a Brentano. 

Lady Blennerhassett gave me some accounts of 
you at Holmbury. Minghetti, whom I saw lately, 
tells me that our friend Bonghi has a Roman His- 
tory in the press, which the Italians hope to set up 
against Mommsen. I forgot, to complete my con- 
fession, that I have never been happy about our 
policy with Cetewayo. But the general result of 
the Session cannot be lamented, only it is not heroic 
success, such as Mr. Gladstone's supremacy and the 
flatness of the opposition would demand. The 
great thing is his health. I did not come over, not 
being once summoned, so that we shall only meet at 
Cannes. Do talk about plans. Can there be any- 
thing before Cannes ? It can never be too soon to 
meet. 

You make writing as difficult as living afar, by 
your unspeakable goodness, but also by the infusion 
of the contrary quality. If I promise not to attack 
the Government, and to believe in Lord Derby, 
will you agree not to hit me so hard? I cannot 

1 At Cambridge. 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 287 

well help doing what I do, taking all things into 
consideration ; and as to my tiresome book, 1 please 
to remember that I can only say things which people 
do not agree with, that I have neither disciple nor 
sympathiser, that this is no encouragement to produc- 
tion and confidence, that grizzled men — except 

— grow appalled at the gaps in their knowledge, 
and that I have no other gift but that which you 
pleasantly describe, of sticking eternal bits of paper 
into innumerable books, and putting larger papers 
into black boxes. There is no help for it. But your 
reproaches are much more distressing to read than 
you suppose, and make me think them better to 
read than to hear, Otherwise, I too would have a 
dream to describe, and wish that yours came true 
from January 1 to December 31. 

George 2 did not catch me at Marienbad, and 
came from Munich in a big box, only the other day. 
I had partly read him, but I was in a difficulty about 
thanking you for it with full honesty as long as I 
only knew it casually, by unhallowed copies. But 
I do thank you, if I may do so even now, most grate- 
fully for the kindness of it altogether, and particu- 
larly for your belief that I should understand it, and 
care for it apart from the sender. Although in this 
you have flattered me ; for there are points in which 
I dare say I do not like him as much as you do. 

Do not think ill of the people they call academic 

Socialists. It is only a nickname for the school that 

is prevailing now in the German universities, with 

a branch in France and another in Italy, a school 

1 " History of Liberty." 2 " Progress and Poverty." 



288 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1884 whose most illustrious representative in England, 
whose most eminent practical teacher in the world, 
is Mr. Gladstone. In their writings, inspired by the 
disinterested study of all classic economists, one 
finds most of the ideas and illustrations of Mr. 
George, though not, indeed, his argument against 
Malthus. This makes him less new to one ; but 
nobody writes with that plain, vigorous directness, 
and I do believe that he has, in a large measure, the 
ideas of the age that is to come. 

I am glad, too, that you like Seeley's book. It is 
excellent food for thought. But so is the first article 
in the January Quarterly} I wrote eight pages of 
criticism and should have liked to send them to you 
instead of Maine, but perhaps you have not read 
him. 

Liddon's objection to saying what may damage a 
very meritorious body of surviving friends of Ros- 
mini is practically reasonable; but it is rather a 
reason for not writing at all on the subject. Ros- 
mini made a vigorous attempt to reform the Church 
of Rome. He was vehemently attacked, repelled, 
censured ; and he defended himself in a work more 
important, argumentatively, than the first. If this 
dramatic incident is left untold, if his stronger state-- 
ments are omitted from his case, we shall get an 
imperfect notion of a memorable transaction, and of 
an interesting, if not a great, divine. 

I am so very glad that Mr. Gladstone is in his 
best health, and that the troubled times have put out 
of sight the notion of retirement. For that reason 

1 " The American Constitution." 






LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 289 

I could almost console myself in looking at the Sou- 
dan. That affair has been in the hands of a col- 
league without much original resource, attentive to 
the wind, and glad to follow the advice of local 

agents. It chances that I have been reading 's 

confidential letters written to a friend sure not to 
show them to ministers ; and I have thought him 
deficient in imagination — in the discovering faculty 
— and also in independence. There is no denying 
that there has been a lack of initiative genius in the 
last few weeks, and that Mr. Gladstone would have 
done more if Bonaparte had been his departmental 
colleague. 

Of all critics of my list, 1 Lubbock is best informed 
in a vast region where I am a stranger. I by no 
means disregard his criticisms. I have not got the 
list myself, and should like nothing in the world so 
much as to sit with you and talk over the objections 
you have collected. But will that, or will anything 
like it, ever be ? If it may, do send one line on 
Tuesday to wait arrival at 18 Carlton House Ter- 
race. 



Here is a ceremonious invitation to dine to- 18 Carlton 
morrow which I most gladly accept tv^L 

I gather, from something I. have just heard, that s.w. 
Froude will not wish for the Professorship. As to Fe ' IS 
Freeman, I am not quite sure. There can be no 
real competitor but Gardiner. 

Dinner without any prospect beyond will be 

1 The hundred books. 



290 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1884 mere dust and ashes ; but what awful fun Oxford 1 
would be ! 

Fed. 13 ... It was such a delight to meet the greatest of 
all our historians 2 at this particular moment. There 
never was so much kindness in this world. I can 
think of nothing but our journey, and the wretched- 
ness of having only one day there. Of course I 
am going to live at the Clarendon. If any doubt 
arises, do not let it exist for a moment. Then I must 
visit the Bodley for an hour, and Stubbs, Liddon, 
M. Miiller, Jowett, Brodrick, Bright of University. 

But these are my private wanderings. Do re- 
member that, and let them not spoil the cachet of 
their own grouping. As all passes through you, do 
take an opportunity to say how thankfully and 
joyously I accept his invitation. 

La May I employ the fleeting and disrespectful 

Madeleine pencil to express sentiments of the most opposite 
kind? I am still so stupidly weak, unaccountably 
pulled by an illness which is an anachronism here, 
that I am afraid to wait till I am quite ripe for ink, 
to speak of the happy time I owed to your com- 
panionship in the two capitals of greater Britain. 
There has never been anything like it, and I 
wonder when there will again. Cambridge is in 
reserve ; but nothing can ever equal the sensation 
of festive home among people I had never seen, 

1 Lord Acton's first visits to Oxford and Cambridge (to Dr. Talbot's, 
Warden of Keble College, and to Professor Sidgwick's) were arranged 
by his correspondent. 2 Stubbs. 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 291 

that you procured for me at Keble. The worst 1884 
recollection is the parting at Paddington. I chose 
my hour next day so badly that, coming at 6, I 
found your mother invisible, yourself out, and your 

sister gone. I have said nothing yet to M ; 

but I do look forward two months to another meet- 
ing. I am very glad that my last conversation with 
Mr. Gladstone left no worse impression, for in the 
obscurity of St. James I preached heavily on my 
favourite text : " apres moi le deluge ; " and on my 
favourite preacher. 

Meanwhile the troublesome question of retirement 
is in a new phase. The half reform bill is floated 
by a half pledge as to redistribution which is per- 
sonal to himself. He cannot leave it to be redeemed 
by others, who, he expressly stated, are not parties 
to it. He is virtually pledged to complete the work 
himself; that is, to meet the next Parliament. For 
they will inevitably force him to dissolve in the 
autumn, if they do not succeed in crowding out the 
Reform question. If not carried by an immense 
majority, it will be carried by Irish votes. The 
Lords will be able to say that England ought to be 
consulted definitely, that it ought not to be over- 
ruled by Ireland, in an old Parliament, and that such 
a change in the Constitution is not to be carried by 
enemies of the Constitution until the country has 
pronounced. 

I don't imagine that it is a bad point to dissolve 
upon — at any rate, there is no swopping in such a 
crossing. 

But I suppose he has abandoned the hope of him- 



292 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1884 self retiring from Egypt, and if he does not, nobody 
else will; and so one must begin to face what is 
inevitable, and to acknowledge that the Soudan has 
altered our position in Egypt. A further complica- 
tion cannot be far off. The best time to re-open 
the Turkish question will be whilst we are a little 
damaged as to disinterestedness by Cyprus and 
Egypt, whilst our increased security makes us less 
anxious and less nervous about Constantinople, and 
whilst the censor of the Turk resides at No. 10. 
The position in the East is so much altered since 
Berlin * that Russia will not long be bound by that 
Treaty, having a price by which Austria can be 
won. Every step of that sort will help to fix us in 
Egypt. . 

And as long as we are at Alexandria or even at 
Souakim, the future of Central Africa will depend 
on us, or at least on our people. I do not believe 
that Mr. Gladstone would revive John Company 
and send him to the Equatorial lakes; and yet I 
fancy there is an opening there for inventive states- 
manship. 

My eagerness about Liddon's elevation does not 
mean that my head was turned by the ambush of 
that deferential Sacristan at Oxford Station, 2 or that 
the Warden 3 talked me over — though he talked 
wisely. For I am not in harmony with Liddon, 
and scarcely in sympathy. He has weak places 
that nobody sees and resents so sharply as I do; 

1 Treaty of Berlin, 1878. 

2 Dr. Liddon met Lord A. and Miss G. at the station. 

3 Dr. Talbot. 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 293 

and he has got over, or swallowed, such obstacles 1884 
on the road to Rome that none remain which, as it 
seems to me, he ought logically or legitimately to 
strain at. I will even confess to you alone — that 
that affair of Rosmini leaves a bad taste in one's 
mouth. But one might pick holes in any man, even 
in the new Bishop of Chester. 1 Nothing steadies a 
ship like a mitre — and as to his soundness, his 
determination to work in and through the Church, 
and not on eccentric courses, I satisfied myself with 
the supreme authority of Dean Church, on my last 
night in town. One cannot help seeing that Liddon 
is a mighty force, not yet on its level. He knows 
how to kindle and how to propel. Newman and 
Wilberforce may have had the same power, but one 
was almost illiterate ; the other knows what he might 
have learnt in the time of Waterland or Butler; 
whereas Liddon is in contact with all that is doing 
in the world of thought. . . . 



. . . You ask a question on which I can express u 

M 
March 30 



unexpected agreement. As long as property is the ^ 



basis of representation, I think it hard to exclude 
female owners. There is an obvious principle in it, 
of course. But though obvious it is not stringent ; 
because female influence is not excluded. We not 
only have no Salic Law, but we allow women to 
vote on matters not political, and we have attached 
political influence to property so closely, that rich 

1 Dr. Stubbs. 



294 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1884 old women, like the Duchess-Countess, 1 or Lady 
Londonderry, are dreadful powers in the land. The 
argument from consistency does not, therefore, make 
for exclusion. 

At the same time, I think it an evil in many 
ways. Girls and widows are Tories, and channels 
of clerical influence, and it is not for them so much 
as for married women that your argument tells. If 
we ever have manhood suffrage — dissociating 
power from property altogether, it will be difficult 
to keep out wives. The objections to voting wives 
are overwhelming. 

You open a delightful vista of Colleges and 
Chapels at Cambridge. It is not so easy to answer 
quite definitely. If the Reform Bill, read a second 
time before Easter, is sent up by Whitsuntide, the 
division in the Lords will be early in June. My 
difficulty would then be that, having to come in 
June, I could hardly come to England in May. 
Supposing my Reform vote to be wanted only after 
Midsummer, then my probable plan would be to 
come to London by the middle of May; and I 
should be at your orders for Cambridge any time 
between 20th and 30th May. . . . 

Subject to these conditions, I shall be only too 
happy to escort you down to the Sidgwicks, to whom, 
please present my best thanks. If Maine is there, I 
dare say we can count on a luncheon there. ... I 
am talking of myself and own plans; but all the 
time I am thinking of your cares and troubles, of 

1 Duchess of Sutherland, Countess of Cromarty in her own right. 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 295 

which you say so little. If you can send me a line 1884 
of good news to Rome, I shall be so glad. 

You will be careful, another time, I hope, as to La 
the enclosures you forward, seeing how long a reply y^'jT 
they involve, and how great a delay. The difficulty 
which prolongs and has delayed my letter will be 
very apparent to you before you reach the end. 

First, as to the personal question : — 

It was not my purpose to depreciate Canon 
Liddon. I came over with the highest opinion of 
him — an opinion higher perhaps than Dr. Dol- 
linger's, or even than Mr. Gladstone's, whose osten- 
sible preference for divines of less mark has some- 
times set me thinking. Impressed by his greatness, 
not as a scholar to be pitted against Germans, but 
as a spiritual force, and also by a certain gracious 
nobleness of tone which ought to be congenial, I 
tried, at Oxford and in London, to ascertain 
whether there is some element of weakness that had 
escaped me. 

Evidently, Liddon is in no peril from the move- 
ment of modern Science. He has faced those prob- 
lems and accounted for them. If he is out of the 
perpendicular, it is because he leans the other way. 

The question would rather be whether a man of 
his sentiments, rather inclined to rely on others, 
would be proof against the influence of Newman, or 
of foreign theologians like Newman. 

On the road Bishops and Parliament were taking 
a few years since, there would be rocks ahead, and 
one might imagine a crisis in which it would be 



296 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1884 doubtful who would be for maintaining the National 
Church and who would not. I have chanced to be 
familiar with converts and with the raw material of 
which they are made, and cannot help knowing the 
distinct and dissimilar paths followed by men like 
Newman himself, Hope, Palmer, R. J. Wilberforce, 
Ward, Renouf, many of whom resembled Liddon 
in talent and fervour, and occupied a position 
outwardly not far from his own. 

He once called the late bishop of Brechin 1 the 
first divine in the Church. I knew the bishop well, 
and am persuaded that the bond that held him 
in the Anglican Communion might easily have 
snapped, under contingencies to which he was not 
exposed. 

Putting these questions not quite so crudely as 
they are stated here, I thought that I obtained an 
answer. At any rate, I was assured that Liddon 
is made of sterner stuff than I fancied, that he 
knows exactly where he stands, where others have 
stood before him, and where and why he parts with 
them ; that the course of Newman and the rest has 
no secrets and no surprises for him ; that he looks 
a long way before him, and has no disposition to 
cling to the authority of others. In short, it 
appeared very decidedly that he is — what Bishop 
Forbes was not — fixed in his Anglican position. 

Under this impression, I could not help wonder- 
ing why Wilkinson, Stubbs, and Ridding are judged 
superior to Liddon. I could have felt and have 
expressed no such wonder if I had not taken pains 

1 Forbes. 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 297 

to discover that he has tried and has rejected the 
cause of Rome, and that neither home difficulties 
nor external influence are at all likely to shake 
him. 

Far, therefore, from meaning disparagement, I 
rate him higher than any member of the English 
clergy I know ; and touching the question of stabil- 
ity, I have the sufficient testimony of his friends, 
of men naturally vigilant on that point, of which 
I am not competent to judge or to speak. 

So little competent, indeed, that I should be at 
a loss to define his system, or to corroborate of my 
own knowledge, the confidence which others have 
expressed. It seemed to me necessary to indicate 
that, for myself, I could not speak without some 
qualification or reserve, such as perhaps would only 
occur to a close student of Roman pathology. To 
do more, will be giving undue and unfair promi- 
nence to a parenthesis. It lays stress where there 
ought to be none, makes the deduction, the excep- 
tion, greater than the positive statement, and gives 
me the air of a man whose praise is designed to 
convey a slur of suspicion. 

That is why your letter with its formidable en- 
closure has afflicted me with dumbness. The doubt 
which I indicated in writing to you has been 
suggested chiefly by what passed in reference to 
Rosmini. 

You will remember that you sent Liddon word 
that Rosmini wrote a very long defence of the little 
book which he was translating. He preferred not 
to make use of the information and not to see the 



298 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1884 book ; and he avoided the subject when we met at 
Oxford. The reason is, that the Rosminians wish 
the Defence to be ignored, as it qualifies the sub- 
mission of the author when the book defended was 
condemned. 

The suppression injures nobody ; it only puts the 
readers of the translation slightly off the scent, and 
gives an imperfect article instead of none. There is 
some trace of complicity with those who are inter- 
ested in a suppressio veri. But it may have been 
due, as he was under obligations to them, and this 
is only preliminary matter. 

My real difficulty is, that he speaks of his author 
with great respect, and evidently thinks his doctrine 
sound and profitable. 

Now Rosmini, allowing for some superficial pro- 
posals of reform, was a thorough believer in the Holy 
See. His book itself, by the nature of the reforms 
proposed, implies that no other defects of equal 
magnitude remain to be remedied. Apart from the 
Five points he accepts the papacy as it stands ; and 
he has no great objection to it, Five points in- 
cluded. 

He was what we vulgarly call an ultramontane — 
a reluctant ultramontane, like Lacordaire. An An- 
glican who views with satisfaction, with admira- 
tion, the moral character and spiritual condition of 
an Ultramontane priest, appears to me to have got 
over the principal obstacle on the way to Rome — 
the moral obstacle. The moral obstacle, to put it 
compendiously, is the Inquisition. 

The Inquisition is peculiarly the weapon and 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 299 

peculiarly the work of the Popes. It stands out 1884 
from all those things in which they co-operated, fol- 
lowed, or assented as the distinctive feature of papal 
Rome. It was set up, renewed, and perfected by a 
long series of acts emanating from the supreme 
authority in the Church. No other institution, no 
doctrine, no ceremony, is so distinctly the individual 
creation of the papacy, except the Dispensing power. 
It is the principal thing with which the papacy is 
identified, and by which it must be judged. 

The principle of the Inquisition is the Pope's 
sovereign power over life and death. Whosoever 
disobeys him should be tried and tortured and burnt. 
If that cannot be done, formalities may be dispensed 
with, and the culprit may be killed like an outlaw. 

That is to say, the principle of the Inquisition 
is murderous, and a man's opinion of the papacy 
is regulated and determined by his opinion about 
religious assassination. 

If he honestly looks on it as an abomination, he 
can only accept the Primacy with a drawback, with 
precaution, suspicion, and aversion for its acts. 

If he accepts the Primacy with confidence, admira- 
tion, unconditional obedience, he must have made 
terms with murder. 

Therefore, the most awful imputation in the cata- 
logue of crimes rests, according to the measure of 
their knowledge and their zeal, upon those whom 
we call Ultramontanes. The controversy, primarily, 
is not about problems of theology : it is about the 
spiritual state of a man's soul, who is the defender, 
the promoter, the accomplice of murder. Every 



300 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1884 limitation of papal credit and authority which effec- 
tually dissociates it from that reproach, which breaks 
off its solidarity with assassins and washes away the 
guilt of blood, will solve most other problems. At 
least, it is enough for my present purpose to say, 
that blot is so large and foul that it precedes and 
eclipses the rest, and claims the first attention. 

I will show you what Ultramontanism makes of 
good men by an example very near home. Saint 
Charles Borromeo, when he was the Pope's nephew 
and minister, wrote a letter requiring Protestants to 
be murdered, and complaining that no heretical heads 
were forwarded to Rome, in spite of the reward that 
was offered for them. His editor, with perfect con- 
sistency, publishes the letter with a note of approval. 
Cardinal Manning not only holds up to the general 
veneration of mankind the authority that canonised 
this murderer, but makes him in a special manner his 
own patron, joins the Congregation of oblates of St. 
Charles, and devotes himself to the study of his acts 
and the propagation of his renown. 

Yet I dare say I could find Anglican divines who 
would speak of the Cardinal as a good man, unhap- 
pily divided from the Church of which he was an 
ornament, and living in error, but yet not leading a 
life of sin — I should gather from such language 
that the speaker was not altogether averse from the 
distinctive characteristic of Ultramontanism, and 
had swallowed far the largest obstacle on the road 
to Rome. 

The case of Rosmini is not so glaring, but it is 
substantially the same. Language implying that 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 301 

an able and initiated Italian priest accepting the 1884 
papacy, with its inventory of systematic crime, 
incurs no guilt, that he is an innocent, virtuous, 
edifying Christian, seems to me open to grave sus- 
picion. If it was used by one of whom I knew 
nothing else, I should think ill of him. If I knew 
him to be an able and in many ways an admirable 
man, I should feel much perplexity, and if I heard 
on the best authority that he deserved entire confi- 
dence, I should persuade myself that it is true, and 
should try to quiet my uneasiness. 

That is what I have done in the case of Liddon. 
When he speaks of an eminent and conspicuous 
Ultramontane divine with the respect he might 
show to Andrewes or Leighton, or to Grotius or 
Baxter, he ignores or is ignorant of the moral objec- 
tion, and he surrenders so much that he has hardly a 
citadel to shelter him. I dare say he would give me 
a very good answer, and I do not hesitate to utter 
his praises. But I have no idea what the answer 
would be, and so must leave room for a doubt. 

I should hardly have resolved to say all this to 
anybody but yourself, relying on you not to mis- 
understand the exact and restricted meaning of my 
letter. I should like my reason for misgiving to be 
understood. But I care much more to be under- 
stood as an admirer, not an accuser of Canon Lid- 
don. My explanation is worthless if it fails to justify 
me there. 

The idleness of Coombe Warren 1 has much to H aut " r n 
answer for. I was taken by surprise when you sent AutHAe 

June 20 
1 Lord Wolverton's residence near London. 



302 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1884 me that letter, 1 and would have given a great deal 
to escape the necessity of answering it. Ever since, 
it has stood grievously in the way of writing to you ; 
and I have conquered my difficulty with extreme 
reluctance. Try to forgive my not writing — try, 
much harder, to forgive my writing. 

When I come I shall have to congratulate you on 
your authorship. I do not do so now, because it 
would be meaningless, the C.R. 2 being due here 
to-morrow only. I do hope you liked doing it, 
and like having done it, and like to think of doing 
it again. 

I still think that we ought to evacuate ; 3 but I 
thought there would be no time for Mr. Gladstone 
to do it, and no obligation on others. The conven- 
tion is a very dexterous way of laying compulsion 
on the Ministers, whoever they may be, several 
years hence. It meets what I thought an insur- 
mountable difficulty, if it succeeds, as I hope it will. 
But I cannot look with satisfaction on the principle 
as compensation for the risk of failure. The cause 
does not seem to me so sacred or so pure as to offer 
consolation for the fall of the Ministry. 

It is an indefinite principle, depending for its 
application on variable circumstances. It is not 
clean cut. We retain certain ill-gotten possessions, 
obtained by treaty or by necessity. It is not evi- 
dent that we should surrender a possession which is 
not ill-gotten. 

1 A letter from Mr. Gladstone to his daughter. 

3 Contemporary Review. 3 Egypt. 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 303 

Our motives for surrender are mixed. It is to 
relieve us from a very troublesome and very danger- 
ous engagement, to avoid a formidable expenditure, 
to disarm the menacing jealousy of other Powers. 
The mixture of motives is obvious, and we are not 
in a position to claim the merit which belongs to 
the purest among them. 

The Ministry would not be united for common 
action on this question, if the motives of expediency 
did not come to aid the motive of principle. The 
bit of gold has to be beaten very thin to gild the 
whole of them. One sees and recognises the sur- 
face gilding, but one knows that there is inferior 
metal beneath. 

The position would be loftier and more correct if 
we retired from an enterprise crowned with success, 
in the fulness of conscious superiority as well as of 
conscious rectitude. But we have not accomplished 
triumphantly the work from which we withdraw. 
We are not incurring the sacrifice of stopping short 
in a career of victory and of political triumphs, so 
that the world wonders at our moderation and self- 
control. We are giving up an undertaking in which 
we have disappointed the expectation of the world, 
in which we have shown infirmity of purpose, want 
of forethought, a rather spasmodic and inconclusive 
energy, occasional weakness and poverty of re- 
source ; and our presence and promise have been 
mixed blessings for the Egyptian people. So that 
the principle is not large enough as a basis for such 
a structure, nor clear enough to yield me comfort 
for the enforced close of such a career. 



304 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1884 Do not be angry with me for saying all this — 
you have heard it before. 

St. Martin In spite of breakfast, dinner, and tea, of garden 
Au? - * 5 parties and evening parties, of road and rail, I have 
brought away with me a feeling of having hardly 
seen you, and of having had very little talk, so that 
I begin at once to look forward to next time and 
the good opportunities it may yield. It will, I hope, 
be very early in November. We left you for a very 
pleasant day at Seacox with Morier, and an easy 
journey, diversified by meeting young Lacaita at 
Wurzburg, and travelling with him all night. 

You never told me what plans there are for the 
short recess. I am glad the Scottish campaign is to 
be soon, so as to give guidance to the popular 
movement. There is a good deal of nonsense in 
the air ; but I hope there will be strength. 

Salisbury's avowal of numerical principles set me 
thinking. I cannot make out whether it is a sur- 
render or a snare. It confirms the expectation that 
they will put the minority theory forward, which is, 
I think, their best card. Not so much because I 
agree with them, as because it divides the Liberal 
party, and rescues them from the position of mere 
resistance. 

The objections to Northbrook's mission 1 are 
obvious; and yet I should have liked to go out 
with him, and try to understand the problem as it 
now stands ; for it is taking a new shape, unwelcome, 

1 To Egypt. Its object was financial. 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 305 

I fear, to Mr. Gladstone, and yet not unforeseen, at 1884 
least since the appearance of Blignieres. It does 
not seem impossible to combine rigid principle with 
practical necessities. 

There is not a brighter spot in my retrospect than 
our visit to Cambridge, the execution of it, as well 
as the delight of it, due to you. Looking back, I 
fancy that I can never have said to you nearly how 
much I was impressed by Sidgwick's conversation 
— to say nothing of their hospitality. But the fact 
is we never talked over anything, and it is all to 
come. 

Alfred's * triumphant bowling makes me hold his 
coat and umbrella comparatively cheap, yet I suppose 
we got beaten after all. 2 . . . 

I have been staying at Tegernsee with Dbllinger. 
The impending vacancy at Lincoln was announced 
while I was there, and I am sorry to say that we did 
not quite agree in the speculations which it sug- 
gested. I hope you will see my dear friend at 
Chester. 8 There is not a greater Tory in England, 
or a greater ornament to that perverse party. 

There was nothing definite to quote in my con- st. Martin 
versation with the Professor 4 about Liddon. He Au s- 2 9 
hardly knows the better side of Liddon, as a preacher 
and as a religious force. He sees that he is not a 
very deep scholar, and thinks his admiration for 
Pusey a sign of weakness, I think he once used the 
term fanatical — meaning a large allowance of one- 

1 Lyttelton. 8 Bishop Stubbs. 

2 England v. Australia, Kennington Oval. i Dollinger. 



306 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1884 sidedness in his way of looking at things. Indeed, 
DSllinger is influenced by nearly the same misgiv- 
ings that I felt some months ago ; and he has not 
had the same opportunities for getting rid of them. 
For instance, the Dean of St. Paul's 1 assured me 
that Liddon, far from reclining on others, is master- 
ful and fond of his own opinion. Moreover, Lid- 
don's attitude in the question of Church and State 
is a matter which the Professor and I judge very 
differently, and it is a difference which it is useless 
to discuss any more. 

I am waiting very eagerly for the speeches in 
Midlothian. They will be almost the most impor- 
tant of his whole career. 

Forwood's proposal of equal electoral districts is 
another sign of dissolution in Toryism. The prin- 
ciple of setting a limit to inequality might be de- 
fended much more plausibly. I am glad to figure 
in your company in Northumberland as well as at 
Cambridge. Your experiment 2 is perhaps worth 
trying, and Stuart knows his people too well to pro- 
mote it if it is likely to fail. An outsider has not 
any secure means of forecasting; but I shall retain 
some hesitation. 

Your letter was waiting here when I came from 
Tegernsee, where I have spent another few days 
with my Professor. 3 Knesebeck, the Empress' sec- 
retary, was there ; and I was dismayed to learn that 
Morier has spoken to him in the most hostile terms 

1 Church. 

2 Scholarship G£io) for Northumberland miners, comprising a month's 
residence at Cambridge. 3 Dollinger. 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 307 

of our foreign policy. I was sorry, in London, that 
you did not see more of that strong diplomatist in 
Downing Street. 

In the doubt as to your movements I direct to 
Ha warden, where I hope you will see the excellent, 
learned, homely, humble bishop of Chester, whose 
virtues ought to disarm even the recalcitrant Dean. 1 
In about two months I hope we shall meet. 



I was able to realise your late experience, 2 even st. Martin 
to the tones of voice in certain passages, and I Se $ Ul ° 
envied you. It must make one change. He 3 can- 
not any longer elaborately and perversely ignore the 
fact that he himself is the life and the force of the 
Liberal party. His reception by Midlothian in 
1880, when he did not appear as a candidate for 
office, constrained him to become Prime Minister; 
and the more definite issue laid before Midlothian 
in 1884, still more emphatically answered, deter- 
mines that he must remain P.M. Just as he ac- 
cepted the consequences then, when they involved 
withdrawal of public declarations, he must accept 
them now, when they compel, and are very defi- 
nitely designed to compel, the surrender of private 
aspirations. 

The public voice has spoken this time more 
loudly and more consciously. It would not be 
right towards the country, but especially towards 
his colleagues, to obey it then and to resist it now. 
It would be not only a breach of the contract now 

1 Dr. Howson. 2 The third Midlothian campaign. 3 Mr. Gladstone. 



308 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1884 made by something more than implication, but a 
yielding up of the party to its enemies in an inex- 
tricable crisis. I have not the least doubt that the 
position will be so understood. 

I think less of the gain which the ministry derives 
from the policy, the limitation and the enormous 
effect of the speeches. It is possible, I think, to 
detect a weak place in them. When one speaks in 
answer to opponents who are present, and who state 
their own case, the thing to do is to demolish it. 
But when one addresses the public, in the absence 
of debate, it is often good policy to state the 
opposite case in one's own way, prior to demolition ; 
one's own way is the way one would state it if it was 
one's own: and everybody knows that he would 
make the Tory position more logical, more plausible, 
and stronger than they make it themselves, if he 
was on their side. It is a process one has to go 
through for oneself, to see what the adversary's case 
looks like, stripped of all the passion, ignorance, 
and fallacy with which he presents it. We are not 
sure we are right until we have made the best case 
possible for those who are wrong; and we are 
strictly bound not to transform the sophisms of the 
advocate into flaws in his case. 

An intelligent Tory might say that this figure or 
precept of rhetoric was not followed, and that their 
argument was presented, not unfairly, but not at its 
best. 

Of course he would see the point of the speeches 
in the restraint of agitation, and the offer to make 
terms. I hope — against hope — that this modera- 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 309 

tion is founded on knowledge of what is going on ii 
among the Tories. One sees signs of collapse in 
their policy of reform, but not in their determi- 
nation to resist, and my own impression is that even 
Wemyss meant to fight it out, only in another 
way. But if there is no collapse, I see no resource 
except the agitation which Mr. Gladstone still 
deprecates. 

To my mind the most significant passage was 
that in which he spoke of the probable fall of sev- 
eral ministries. That means that the Home rulers 
are going to be the arbiters of party government. 
That means ruin to the Liberal party. Many 
Liberals see the moment looming when they will 
have more sympathy with a party led by moderate 
Conservatives than with a party inspired by Radical 
Democrats. The looming will be quickened by the 
necessity of presenting a front to the Irish. But 
that is only a small part of the argument accumu- 
lating against retirement before the next parlia- 
ment, when the new constituencies will be fixed 
for generations. 

Odo Russell 1 leaves a larger gap than he filled, 
and he is difficult to replace at a moment of peculiar 
soreness and strain. In the service, I should prefer 
Dufferin ; out of it — Bedford ! I understand that 
he would not accept. I find Lord Granville quite 
feels that our strongest diplomatist, Morier, is out 
of the question at Berlin, but it will be ten times 
worse to send Carlingford, and an indication of 
weakness. 

!The first Lord Ampthill. 



Cannes 

A T OV. 12 



310 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

Many, very many, thanks for your letter, which 
did not seem to me to suffer from the distractions 
and dissipations of Dalmeny. The best part of it is 
the good report of your father's health and spirits. 

Your delightful letter came from Munich this 
evening after I had posted mine. 

It is an exquisite pleasure to look forward to 
meeting in such a short time. I should so much 
wish to have a glimpse of you, and a chat, before the 
plot thickens with us, so as to get the bearings. If 
all goes well, I have some chance of arriving pretty 
early on Monday, and my first business will be to 
ask if there is a line from you at the Athenaeum. 
There is an uncertainty about the through trains, 
as there are no travellers yet, and so I may be 
disappointed. 

It is a very important crisis, as there is a pos- 
sibility of such complete and perfect success for Mr. 
Gladstone's policy of Reform; and I do so hope 
he may have it in all fulness. There never was 
such personal ascendency ; and I trust nothing will 
happen in Africa to disturb it. 

Yes, I would give a trifle to have heard the dis- 
cussion of our Revolution by our greatest statesman 1 
and our greatest historian. 2 The latter betrayed his 
uncompromising Conservatism by half a parenthesis 
at Keble. It is very superficially disguised in his 
book, and he ought to have been more grateful to 
me than he was for abusing Macaulay. Brewer was 
just like him in judging those events, and Gardiner 

1 Mr. Gladstone. 2 Bishop Stubbs. 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 311 

contrives only by an effort not to revile the good 1884 
old Cause. We are well out of the monotonous old 
cry about Hampden and Russell. 



We have had a long journey from St. Martin, and La 
are hardly settled down in the midst of a vast solitude, j^v.il"" 
when the unreasonable success of the government 
compels me to pack my bag once more. 

What makes it a pleasure, I need not say. If all 
things go as I expect, I shall be in town on Monday 
night or early on Tuesday. 

If you are so very kind as to send a line to the 
Athenaeum suggesting the right end and object and 
reward of travel, please put outside, to wait arrival. 

I do not stay with the Granvilles this time, that 
I may vote against ministers at my ease. And I do 
not bring M , which is a grief ; still, I look for- 
ward to a deal of riotous living, and to many sources 
of public and private satisfaction. 



M received an account which pleased her, La 

Ma 
Dec. g 



of my bath of goodness and spirituality at Oxford; J 



and the writing to her about scenes and people she 
knows, and trying to explain thoughts and facts, has 
been half the pleasure of my solitary journey. 

The meeting at your door x of the professors of 
heterodoxy 2 and chatterboxy 8 in political economy 
is delightful, and I hope it will fructify. But my 
friend the " nice little old gentleman " 4 will always 

1 At Oxford. 2 Ruskin. 3 Bonamy Price. 

4 Mr. Ruskin's playfully affectionate description of Mr. Bonamy 
Price, Professor of the science which he most abhorred. 



312 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1884 be too strenuous and urgent for the Fra Angelico 
of Economists ; and besides, we live in the Glad- 
stonian era — and the glory of Europe is extin- 
guished for ever. That, however, might be a bond 
of union between those Sophisters. 

In London I could not escape a luncheon with 

, who threatens me with a friendly visit next 

month at Cannes. Next week I expect Bryce with 
Robertson Smith. Did I tell you of my pleasant 
dinner with them on Wednesday, and meeting 
Creighton ? 1 He is an agreeable and superior 
man, whom you would like ; and he is full of gen- 
eral knowledge. But I am afraid you will find his 
book 2 a severe study. 

Thursday — Rather an interesting dinner at 

; but one goes there to eat. Lord G. not in 

very good spirits. I conciliated Enfield, who . . . 
was a little shocked to find that I agree with 
Courtney. 

There was not a gap of time for a farewell in 
Downing Street, and I had to decline dinners with 
the Granvilles, Mays, and Pagets, and a visit to 
Seacox — Hamlet left out. 

The journey succeeded beautifully, for it was the 
roughest passage I remember, and I was none the 
worse for it. At Calais one gets into a sleeping-car 
and gets out of it at Cannes, after dining and sleep- 
ing comfortably. A young Englishman described 
the Grasse Hotel to me, where he had lived with 
Cross, who was writing a book. He did not dis- 

1 Afterwards Bishop of London. 

2 " The History of the Papacy during the Reformation." 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 313 

cover that it x was the book in my hand. I have 
sent it back with some considerable suggestions. 

Mrs. Green writes an amusing account of Dr. 
Stubbs's violent language in politics when she 
approaches him with her history. I have advised 
her to sacrifice everything and everybody to the 
object of securing his help. Leviathan will not aid 
her. 

I have strongly urged May to write a new chapter 
of Constitutional History, coming down to this our 
era of Good Feeling, as Americans call the last 
administration of Monroe. 2 It is the greatest land- 
mark in English Politics ; and it has the merit of 
all well-defined epochs, that it is not going to last. 

At the British Museum, Gardiner was working, and 
I wished him joy on the endowment of Research. 



If sleeplessness comes on again do represent the Cannes 
merits of Cannes in their proper light. January is Dec ' I 
often the finest month, and this is the finest season 
ever known. Also it is the emptiest. I hear that 
Thorenc is not to let, in the hope that the Wolver- 
tons may take it. Such rest and change as he 
would get here, after so much hard work, might be 
quite invaluable, especially if it is in his thoughts 
that the Session of 1885 is to be his last in office. 
That would be worth refreshing for; and we shall 

1 " Life of George Eliot." 

2 President Monroe formulated, at the suggestion of Mr. Canning, 
the doctrine that the American continents were not to be colonised in 
the future by foreign Powers. 



314 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1884 do our best to occupy and distract him, and all of 
you, during your stay. 

Croker 1 was so large and promising a morsel that 
I postponed temptation and read no part of him care- 
fully ; besides it is a question hot with hidden fire. 
Have you not discovered, have I never betrayed, what 
a narrow doctrinaire I am, under a thin disguise of 
levity ? The Duke of Orleans nearly described my 
feelings when he spoke, testamentarily, of his religious 
flag and his political faith. Politics come nearer 
religion with me, a party is more like a church, error 
more like heresy, prejudice more like sin, than I find 
it to be with better men. And by these canons I am 
forced to think ill of Peel, to think, if you won't mis- 
understand me, that he was not a man of principle. 
The nature of Toryism is to be entangled in interests, 
traditions, necessities, difficulties, expedients, to man- 
age as best one may, without creating artificial ob- 
stacles in the shape of dogma, or superfluous barriers 
of general principle. " Perissent les colonies plutot 
que les principes " (which is a made-up sentence, no 
more authentic than " Roma locuta est "), expresses the 
sort of thing Liberalism means and Toryism rejects. 
Government must be carried on, even if we must 
tolerate some measure of wrong, use some bad reasons, 
trample on some unlucky men. Other people could 
recognise the face and the sanctity of morality where 
it penetrated politics, taking the shape of sweeping 
principle, as in Emancipation, Free Trade, and so 
many other doctrinaire questions. Peel could not 
until he was compelled by facts. Because he was 

1 The Croker Papers. 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 315 

reluctant to admit the sovereignty of considerations ii 
which were not maxims of state policy, which con- 
demned his own past and the party to which he 
belonged. 

But if party is sacred to me as a body of doctrine, 
it is not, as an association of men bound together, 
not by common convictions but by mutual obliga- 
tions and engagements. In the life of every great 
man there is a point where fidelity to ideas, which 
are the justifying cause of party, diverges from fidel- 
ity to arrangements and understandings, which are 
its machinery. And one expects a great man to 
sacrifice his friends — at least his friendship — to 
the higher cause. 

Progress depends not only on the victory, the 
uncertain and intermittent victory, of Liberals over 
Conservatives, but on the permeation of Conserva- 
tism with Liberal ideas, the successive conversion of 
Tory leaders, the gradual desertion of the Conserva- 
tive masses by their chiefs — Fox, Grenville, Welles- 
ley, Canning, Huskisson, Peel — Tory ministers 
passing Emancipation, Free Trade, Reform — are 
in the order of historic developments. Still the 
complaints of Croker are natural. He had been 
urged along a certain line, and being a coarse, bla- 
tant fellow, he overdid it, and wrote things from 
which there was no release. It was not in his 
brutal nature to appreciate the other side of ques- 
tions. He did not begin by seeing the strong 
points of his enemy's case, and so far he was 
dishonest. 

My impression is that Peel was justified towards 



316 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1884 his party in 1846 by what occurred in 1845. He 
explained his views ; some of his friends declared 
against them ; and he resigned. After the exchange 
of Stanley for Mr. Gladstone, it was a new ministry, 
a new departure on distinct lines. Nobody was be- 
trayed. Peel did not carry his friends with him 
because he had not the ascendency which his great 
lieutenant possesses. The Radicals have been made 
to look as foolish as Croker. The bread has been 
taken out of their mouths, as they are not to devour 
the Lords. They have consolations in the future 
which the Protectionists have not ; but they are in 
as false a position as the Protectionists were ; and 
yet they stand fire on the whole well, and without 
secession. — But I am conscious of more nearly 
hating Croker than anybody, except Lord Clare, in 
English history. It was my one link with a late, 
highly-lamented statesman and novelist. 1 



1885 Yes ! at last, foreign affairs are in a very wretched 
La way, and are unjustly and unreasonably injuring 

Madeleine Mr Gladstone's own position. If Morier is still in 

Jan. 14 * 

England, I wish he could see him before Peters- 
burg. He is our only strong diplomatist ; but he is 
only strong. 

I have bored the P.M. to extinction with praise 
of Liddon, and as all I could say is obvious to 
others, I am not tempted to repeat the offence. 
But the death of that uninteresting, good Bishop 
Jackson 2 disturbs my rest. It is clear, very clear to 

1 Disraeli. 2 Bishop of London. 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 317 

me, that it would not be right to pass Liddon over 1885 
now that there are two important vacancies to fill ; 
and one asks oneself why he should not be chosen 
for the more important of the two, and who is mani- 
festly worthier to occupy the greatest see in Chris- 
tendom? The real answer, I suppose, is that his 
appointment will give great offence, and that he is 
a decided partisan, and a partisan of nearly the same 
opinions as the P.M. himself. 

No doubt there would be much irritation on the 
thorough Protestant side, and in quarters very near 
Downing Street, and I feel, myself, more strongly 
than many people, that partisanship in Liddon runs 
to partiality, to one-sidedness, to something very 
like prejudice. And with all that strong feeling, I 
cannot help being agitated with the hope that the 
great and providential opportunity will not be lost. 

Assuredly Liddon is the greatest power in the 
conflict with sin, and in turning the souls of men 
to God, that the nation now possesses. He is also, 
among all the clergy, the man best known to num- 
bers of Londoners. There must be a very strong 
reason to justify a minister in refusing such a bishop 
to such a diocese. 

The argument of continuity does not convince 
me, because it was disregarded when Philpotts died. 
Still more, because so eminent a representative of 
Church principles had not occupied the see of Lon- 
don within living memory, and there is a balance to 
redress. When I think of his lofty and gracious 
spirit, his eloquence, his radiant spirituality, all the 
objections which I might feel, vanish entirely. 



318 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

The time has really come when the P.M. has 
authority to do what he likes, and to disregard cavil. 
He is lifted above all considerations which might 
weaken action at other times and in other men. No 
ill consequences of his use of patronage can reach 
him. He can be guided by the supreme motive, and 
by the supreme motive only. It may well be that 
these are the last conspicuous ecclesiastical appoint- 
ments that will be his to make. He is able now 
to bequeath an illustrious legacy to the people of 
London. 

And, speaking on a lower level, the shock of 
Liddon's elevation might be blunted by the con- 
temporaneous choice for Lincoln. 

One qualification ought to be remembered. He 
is more in contact than other churchmen with ques- 
tions of the day. Not only politics and criticism, 
but science. Paget delights to relate how Owen 
was discoursing on the brevity of life in the days 
of the patriarchs, and how beautifully Liddon baffled 
him by asking whether there is any structural reason 
for a cockatoo to live ten times as long as a pigeon. 
If it was my duty, which it is not, or my habit — 
which it is still less — to speak all my mind, I would 
say that there is, within my range of observation, 
some inclination to make too much of distinguished 
men in the Church. I name no names, but if I did, 
I might name Pusey, Wilberforce, Mozley, Church, 
Westcott, as men whom there has been some ten- 
dency to overestimate, at least in comparison with 
Liddon. Not that he is their superior, but that 
he seems to me to have fallen short of his due as 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 319 

much as they, in various ways, have been overpaid, 
in praise, confidence, and fame. If there have been 
reasons explaining this, I think they ought not to 
operate now. 

Who are conceivable candidates ? Temple, West- 
cott, Wilkinson, Butler, Lightfoot ? Two of these 
are more learned and more indefinite theologians; 
but I can see no other point of rivalry. And I do not 
learn that Dunelm possesses unusual light in deal- 
ing with men. Fraser ? Who can say that he has 
the highest qualities in Liddon's measure ? Temple 
is vigorous and open ; but he is not highly spirit- 
ual, or attractive, or impressive as a speaker ; he 
has an arid mind, and a provincial note in speech 
and manner. But he also understands science. The 
Dean assures me that, Pusey being gone, Liddon 
will be under no personal influence, that he has 
more confidence in himself and more backbone than 
I was able to discover for myself. 



Of course I know very well that we shall not z« 
make our Bishop of London ; and ever since I wrote Madeleine 

r ' m Jan. 22 

to you I have been seeking points of consolation, and 
magnifying to myself my own sources of misgiving. 
Yesterday I chanced to see, at Mentone, the best of 
the Anglican clergy that I have ever known, a Mr. 
Sidebotham. He told me of a luncheon at Bishop 
Hamilton's, where he sat, a young clergyman, be- 
tween Liddon and Tait. Liddon, after a few words, 
shut up like an oyster ; and Tait took a good deal 
of pains to please his neighbour and to draw him 



320 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1885 out. From which experience, my friend, himself a 
truly Catholic Anglican, thinks that Liddon, whom 
he deems the greatest preacher living, would not 
make a good Bishop of London. This testimony, 
from a personal admirer and theological adherent, was 
rather welcome to me. When I asked him whether 
there was any dark horse, any candidate not obvious 
to outsiders, he said " No " ; but seemed to think that 
Bedford 1 would be the sort of strong-backed prelate 
you mean. He fully expected Temple's appointment. 
Thank you so much for speaking of Morier. You 
know that for all people not private friends of his 

own is disappointing. He is a bad listener, 

easily bored, and distrustful of energetic men who 
make work for themselves and for the Foreign 
Office. Morier, in particular, has force without tact, 
and stands ill with a chief who has tact without 
force. He feels that he is unsupported and not 
much appreciated. A few friendly words from above 
would set him up wonderfully. 

Although Chamberlain is not the only source of 
weakness in the Government, he will be the cause 
of dissolution if your threat is executed at Easter ! 
I really must come over and make myself very dis- 
agreeable if that goes on. It is time to play the 
last card in one's hand, for one year more of office 
and power, for the sake of the indefinite future. 
But perhaps the Vyner Cottage 2 may give me the 
desired opportunity. 

For this is a very central part of Europe. I have 

1 Walsham How, then Suffragan Bishop of Bedford. 

2 At Cannes. 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 321 

had Dilke and Ripon; I saw Salisbury yesterday ; ii 
and Scherer dines here on Saturday. 

Cross is coming with his book 1 next week. 



I shall be delighted to dine in bad company on Athenceum 
Thursday. Goschen will speak against Govern- p U f, M ,, 
ment to-morrow, but will vote for them. I dined Feb. 26 
there yesterday with Morier, Milner, 2 and Albert 
Grey ; 3 and the same party dines with Morier this 
evening as soon as the P.M. sits down. Several 
ministers (Hartington, Spencer, and others) have 
said too much that they wish to be beaten. 

A very strong speech to-night would retrieve the 
position. If the enemy came in now, England 
would soon become no better than the Continental 
powers, and our true greatness and prosperity 
would depart from us. 

I am so glad to know that he is getting better. Athenceum 
If you will burn my letters there will be less March 3 
difficulty in voting for Government. Certainly a 
peer cannot vote absolutely only as he approves or 
disapproves — or I must have voted on the other 
side. I shall be delighted to call at 12, and also to 
be your escort. 



The book 4 reveals a mental flaw I had not sus- La 

Ma 
April g 



pected. Because Newman, or some of Newman's J! '''"'" 



1 " The Life of George Eliot." 8 The present Earl Grey. 

2 Now Viscount Milner. 4 Mark Pattison's Memoirs. 



322 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1885 set, Faber, Ward, Morris, were narrow and fanatical, 
he concludes that their doctrine is that of narrow- 
minded fanatics. This is stumbling at the Ass's 
bridge. Scientific thought begins with the separa- 
tion between the idea and its exponent, just as much 
as religious thought ; and our peculiar difficulty in 
keeping them apart is notoriously the great element- 
ary defect of the English — not the Scottish — mind. 
Pattison himself suffers from the extreme narrow- 
ness of the Oxford horizon in his time. He knows 
nothing about the other side of the hill ; and when 
he came to know, in later years, his religious spirit 
was extinct. Newman had unfitted him for Rothe. 
A strong mind cannot rest without thinking out its 
thoughts. But Pattison rests without caring to 
explain which of the several systems which exist 
outside of the churches satisfied his conscience. He 
grew impatient of theology. He does not recognise 
the great importance of Casaubon in religious history, 
or of Milton's theological treatise on the progress of 
his mind. Once, having reviewed Pascal, he said to 
me that he thought, after all, the Jesuits were in the 
right. I disagreed, but I remember that I was 
delighted at the openness of his mind. But now I 
again find him hooded with prejudice. He rightly 
discerned that the French Protestants created inde- 
pendent scientific learning, and glorifies Scaliger as 
the type of them : and then he treats Petavius as 
an impostor, got up by the Jesuits in defiance of 
Scaliger. Whereas the Jesuit was one of the most 
deeply learned men that ever lived, by no means 
inferior to Grotius or Ussher or Selden. 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 323 

Every year some zealous Frenchman exposes the 1885 
iniquities of the Tudors, hoping to discredit the 
Church of England ; and Taine fancies that to show 
the horrors of the Revolution is a good argument 
against democracy. Pattison must have stood, as to 
his inner man, nearly on the same level of logic. 



Scherer writes that he is going to publish a new Cannes 
volume, in which his recent essay on the Life of A $ rtl22 
George Eliot will be included. You will read it 
with interest and surprise at the moral judgment. 

He is also the great patron of Amiel, whom I 
read with delight as having a savour of Vine t — with ? 
more serious culture and curiosity, and inferior 
understanding for religion. There is a plot in 
Arnold's circle to make him known and popular 
in England. Nobody thought anything of him 
in his lifetime, at Geneva. 

A careful study of my Pall Mall has left me quite 
in the dark as to Zulfikar, &C. 1 I thought there was 
a deliberate intention to force us into war, and I did 
not imagine that there was any way out of it. To 
my cheap and pacific mind it seemed a disaster not 
only without remedy, but without even a remote 
compensation or consolation, in which victory could 
do us no good, and in which the mere conflict would 
degrade us to the brutal level of continental powers. 

Nothing has so completely puzzled me for the 

1 The Afghan frontier. See Mr. Morley's account of the Penjdeh 
incident in his " Life of Gladstone," vol. iii. pp. 183-185. 



324 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1885 last two years as the hesitation of Russia to re-open 
the San Stefano question, while we are not only at 
Cyprus, but in Egypt, and without any moral van- 
tage ground from which we can resist the overthrow 
of the European Turk. I would willingly give up 
the whole country from Bulgaria to the iEgean for 
a few miles of Afghan desert. 

But it would be bad policy to give up both and 
have to fight for existence in India whenever a ca- 
pricious bell rings at Petersburg. 



Cannes I cannot imagine Russia drawing back in so 
Apni 27 SU p reme ]y favourable a position. What is hard to 
understand is her having gone so far, and deliberately 
resolved on war. But I see that there is something 
in all this that has entirely escaped me. It seems so 
clear that our policy is to restore Russia to the 
position she had attained before the Congress of 
Berlin, that, therefore, we are not only her best, but 
her only friends — that I am quite bewildered, and 
half suspect that there has been some tremendous 
mistake in our management. I should like to have 
the chance of distracting Mr. Gladstone with various 
talk, in all this anxiety. Probably I shall be at Carl- 
ton H. Terrace on Friday week. Will you tell me 
there when we can meet? . . . Tennyson's really 
profound animosity 1 against the P.M. has long been 
known to people in his confidence, and has come 

1 The reference is to Tennyson's lines on the Franchise Bill, 
" Steersman, be not precipitate," &c. 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 325 

out at last. It was one reason, but not the only one, 1885 
of my dislike to his peerage. 

Maine, whose series of articles form in reality an 
assault on the Government, promises to adopt all my 
remonstrances in the reprinting of them. These 
rilled twenty-six of my pages, in all ; so I count on 
a considerable modification of the text. 

I hope there will be a possible play . . . when we 
come to town. 

is very intelligent, agreeable, amiable, a little 

complex in design ; accurate calculation sometimes 
resides in the corner of her eye, and she knows how 
to regulate to a hair's breadth, when she smiles, the 
thin red line of her lips. 

No one ever saw Mr. Gladstone in better spirits princes' 
than he was at dinner yesterday. I hope it was the ?, ate 

. June 20 

hitch. 1 It is a bore to be away when the thing is to 
be decided. May agrees with me, and with that 
other Radical 2 from Cambridge, that even the in- 
geniously remodelled assurances ought not to be 
given ; when we have preserved peace with so much 
difficulty, no concession not absolutely required 
should be made to these dangerous successors. 3 But 
it will need great fortitude, and I do not seriously 

1 Disagreements in the Cabinet on Ireland had been cut short on 
June 8 by the defeat of the Government, through a combination of 
Tories and Irish, on the Budget. 

2 Mr. James Stuart. 

3 When Lord Salisbury came into office in June 1885, he required 
assurances of support from the Leader of the Opposition, which Mr. 
Gladstone refused to give. 



326 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1885 hope for success against the strong wish of so many 
colleagues. 



April I have said that I am divided from G. Eliot by the 
widest of all political and religious differences, and 
that political differences essentially depend on dis- 
agreement in moral principles. Therefore I cannot 
be suspected of blindness to her faults. More par- 
ticularly because I have insisted on another grave 
delinquency which has struck few persons, her toler- 
ance for Mazzini. That is a criminal matter, inde- 
pendent of the laws of states and churches, which no 
variety of theological opinion can by any means 
affect. We must never judge the quality of a teach- 
ing by the quality of the Teacher, or allow the spots 
to shut out the sun. It would be unjust, and it 
would deprive us of nearly all that is great and good 
in this world. Let me remind you of Macaulay. 
He remains to me one of the greatest of all writers 
and masters, although I think him utterly base, con- 
temptible and odious for certain reasons which you 
know. And I might say as much of many other 
men. To be truly impartial, that is, to be truly con- 
scientious and sincere, we must be open equally to 
the good and evil of character. . . . 

Cannes I wish I had been with you in Norway or could 

Nov. a hayg seen Hawarden during this most interesting 

time. Other trouble and travel have made havoc 

of my correspondence, and when you receive these 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 327 

superfluous lines, the die will have been cast in 1885 
Midlothian. For I fancy that the enemy's only 
hope now is that Mr. Gladstone will not be able to 
address his audience. 

Lord Granville has kept me up to the mark as to 
important matters, and announced the manifesto 1 in 
very warm terms; but his abrupt style of compo- 
sition is not favourable to the more delicate shades 
of party division. One makes out, from afar, that 
Chamberlain is going off from the X.P.M. 2 while 
Goschen is elaborately advancing towards him ; also 
that he, in fact, agrees better with Chamberlain, 
whilst the policy of the moment draws him to 
Goschen. 

Our Joe ought to know how to bide his time. I 
suppose he thinks that something must be offered 
to the new voters that they care for. I imagine 
that the Church question forms a very real cause of 
division. Mr. Gladstone's authority will be able to 
keep it down for the time, and no more. 

Let us hope for an utterly overwhelming victory, 
in spite of some perceptible progress on the part of 
the Tories. Through a friend I have explained to 
Bismarck that he must be prepared for this, if only 
the voice holds. Tories here tell me that they have 
no real hope. Selborne's name being on the Grey 
manifesto, I conclude that he will not be Chancellor. 
It will be possible to strengthen the new Govern- 
ment immensely with new men, but I am afraid a 

1 Mr. Gladstone's Election Address, partly written in Norway, con- 
taining the Authorised Programme of the Liberal party. 

2 I.e., ex-Prime Minister. 



328 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1885 certain friend of ours will claim the Woolsack. The 
Eastern question makes me very impatient to see 
Mr. Gladstone in Downing Street again. 

If Morier only came to luncheon, you hardly can 
have seen the change in him. He is a strong man, 
resolute, ready, well-informed and with some amount 
of real resource. But ambition long deferred, activity 
long restrained, a certain coarseness of grain which 
is coming to the surface, have turned him into a 
bully, quarrelsome and dangerous. A dexterous 
Muscovite will always be able to provide an oppor- 
tunity of putting him in the wrong and getting up 
an ugly fracas. It is extraordinary what dull men 
make sufficient diplomatists. Arnold Morley is 
new to me; I gather from what you say that 
Russell 1 is sure of his seat. I was disturbed to 
find the Duke so hard on him, and so little support 
on the more amiable side of the family. 

I quite agree with Chamberlain, that there is 
latent Socialism in the Gladstonian philosophy. 
What makes me uncomfortable is his inattention 
to the change which is going on in those things. 
I do not mean in European opinion, but in the 
strict domain of science. A certain conversation 
that you remember, when Stuart, fresh from the 
horny hands of Democracy, 2 produced his heresies, 
was very memorable to me. But it is not the popu- 
lar movement, but the travelling of the minds of 
men who sit in the seat of Adam Smith that is 
really serious and worthy of all attention. Maine 

1 Mr. George Russell. He stood for Fulham, but was not elected. 

2 At his election for Hoxton. 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 329 

tells me that his book, a Manual of unacknowledged 
Conservatism, is selling well. It is no doubt meant 
to help the enemy's cause, and more hostile to us 
than the author cares to appear. For he requested 
me not to review it. You know that the new Hatz- 
feldt is the son of the lady who protected Lassalle, 
and that it is desirable to speak of his wife as little 
as of his mother. He is a Berlin bureaucrat, pur 
sang. I have something to write against time, which 
keeps me at work during the night until the end of 
November. Don't mind it, but please tell me what 
happens, and whether I may come and see you 
re-installed. 

Fancy my disappointment : Paget 1 passed under 
our windows, and Liddon — as he told the World — 
was at Tegernsee, and I missed them both. The 
Pagets have set up a delightful daughter-in-law, and 
a near relation of hers, a Balliol man, son, I believe, 
of the chief Tory wire-puller in Shropshire, has just 
come out here. . . . 



It was a serious blow to find in your letter that za 

Ma, 
Nov. 28 



you had no confidence in the election, 2 but I am ^ 



glad now to think that you were so much better pre- 
pared to lose than I was, in spite of what I had also 
heard about Bright's despondency. I only hope that 
it has not been a bad time, otherwise, at Dalmeny, 
and that Mr. Gladstone has not suffered from so 
much effort. 

1 Now Bishop of Oxford. 

2 The General Election of November 1885, consequent on the 
County Franchise and Redistribution Acts. 



330 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1885 At this moment I know only the result of the 
first three days, and have no Scottish news since 
Goschen got in. I conclude that we are beaten past 
recovery, and wonder whether the Dark Horse * will 
make the Government independent of their Irish 
supporters. If not, the rift in the lute will betray 
itself any time after the first Session. 

As I am the only Englishman still so besotted as 
to feel Salisbury's presence in Downing Street ex- 
actly as I should feel Bradlaugh's at Lambeth, I will 
say nothing about my own sensations to a corre- 
spondent necessarily unsympathetic. What strikes 
me most strongly is the probability of Mr. Gladstone 
thinking that his release has come, and that he is 
not bound to embark on a voyage which is very 
unlikely to lead back to power until he is in his 
seventy-eighth year. For I suppose that the secret 
of the situation is that Chamberlain has so far played 
false, played, I mean, a private game, that he looked 
far ahead, and did not care to come back to office in 
the old combination, especially with the prospect of 
losing Dilke at first. So that, in fact, the Gladston- 
ian influence, which would be unshaken in the 
country at large, was unable to control his own col- 
leagues, and the old inferiority in the management 
of men, compared with the management of masses, 
which Goschen exemplified before, has appeared in 
the direction of the Radical wing. 

As I know his characteristic of caring for meas- 
ures much more than for the organisation which is 
to carry them, I conjecture he will say that he is not 

1 The county voters. 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 331 

harnessed for ever to the coach, that he will be it 
grievously tempted to give up leading an active 
opposition. Of course I should deeply deplore such 
a decision, but my old arguments, which circum- 
stances did so much to impress, will be weaker now. 

Three legitimate causes have told in favour of the 
Tories. They have not done much to make them 
odious, and the position abroad is easier, very 
decidedly, though not very considerably, easier. 
Then, the case against us in the Soudan is a very 
strong one. I may say so now that Mr. Gladstone 
does not really resist it ; and you, at any rate, know 
how strongly I thought so before. That is not a 
positive recommendation of the Tories, but it does 
weaken us, and the reproach is not met, in the judg- 
ment of impartial men, by saying that the Tories 
did nothing to restrain or to correct us. Thirdly, 
the Church argument is logically against us. Mr. 
Gladstone's attitude gave no security that the 
Liberals, if they returned strengthened from the 
poll, would not eventually employ their increased 
strength to pave the way for disestablishment. 

What you say of a flaw in his reckoning is very 
true indeed. In his literary occupations it appears 
still more strongly. The grasp is often more re- 
markable than the horizon. I do not think that it 
has been much of a drawback in politics, and the 
minds it would estrange are very few. 

You would have written a capital review of 
Greville. 1 It is very odd that a man should be so 
shrewd, and so full of experience, and yet so desti- 

1 The Greville Memoirs, Part III. 



332 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1885 tute of positive ideas. I see that I thought too 
much of him, having known him before I knew the 
difference between common sense and capacity. 
My friend Maine certainly did not fear that I should 
spoil his effects, for I should never have found a 
point of contact with the views of the general 
reader. I don't think he Jikes to admit that one 
can have gone over the same ground, and have come 
impartially to opposite conclusions. His book is a 
symptom of the change which is so remarkable in 
the Times. 

Cannes It would have been a very great pleasure to be at 
Jan. 1 Hawarden during these festive days ; and only very 
strong local ties oblige me to say that it is impossi- 
ble. There has never been a time when I was more 
anxious to learn what is really going on, and to see 
things from the centre, and it is therefore a disap- 
pointment to be away. But there is nothing that I 
could say or do that would contribute an element to 
the momentous decisions to be formed. That Mr. 
Gladstone will, in this great and perhaps final crisis, 
put himself into the position of Irishmen and view 
things not only from the point of their present 
wishes, but with their historic eyes, and that he will 
hold that the ends of liberty are the true ends of 
politics, that is the one thing certain and known to 
all men, and it is the whole of the political baggage 
with which I set out on the Irish expedition. 

I know neither how to resist the claim of the 
Irish nation to govern themselves nor even their 
claim to possess the land, and nobody really familiar 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 333 

with the events of this century can say that the one 1886 
is beyond the resources of political, or the other, of 
economic science. They are problems which have 
been solved repeatedly within the experience of two 
generations. Many experiments have been made, 
and it is not difficult to determine which solutions 
have failed, which have succeeded, and to tell the 
reason why. 

I have thought so for twenty years, and now that 
the question has become perforce a practical one, 
nobody can be more heartily than I am on the side 
which I understand to be Mr. Gladstone's, or, to 
speak definitely, on the Irish side. The claim of 
duty exactly coincides with the claim of necessity, 
and that is all about it that one can say from a dis- 
tance, without having seen what is on paper, or felt 
pulses all round. 

Duty and necessity settle the question, but not 
as to policy in detail, which I have no right to talk 
about without hearing more what is said by people 
on the spot. Only let me say that I would not be 
influenced by hope of a very brilliant success, even 
if it is possible to do what would satisfy the better 
part of the Irish party. The people are so demoral- 
ised, both laity and clergy, that we must be pre- 
pared to see the best scheme fail. No Irish failure 
is so bad as the breakdown of parliamentary gov- 
ernment, so that even from a sordid point of view 
that is not insuperable. But I would arm myself 
against disappointment. There is another point of 
view from which I see much to apprehend and pre- 
pare for. The elections send back Mr. Gladstone 



334 LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 

1886 to Westminster, and even to Downing Street, with 
some loss of influence. I see it not only in the 
reduced majority, but still more in the increase of 
Conservative minorities at the poll, the infidelity of 
most important colleagues, and the reluctance with 
which he will be followed by members under press- 
ure from their constituencies. 

We saw the centrifugal forces at work last 
Session in the Ministry itself. Mr. Gladstone only 
retained office after the Egyptian vote by the neu- 
trality of Rosebery, and in the question of conces- 
sion to Parnell he had to yield to the Lords in the 
Cabinet. 

How can they stand by him now, to support 
measures much more formidable, probably, than 
that which they rejected last spring? And could 
not Salisbury dexterously put the question in such 
a way that their vote then given should disable 
them altogether? 

One sees the danger that Mr. Gladstone would 
be almost isolated among his friends, even if there 
is a majority in the House, and I can imagine no 
way of getting any considerable scheme through 
the Lords. I wish you would tell me that all this 
has been provided for, and that very careful negotia- 
tions have been carried on. Taking the question 
grossly, in outline, I can only say that I hope fer- 
vently that he will have strength to accomplish the 
only scheme of policy I can think worthy of his 
fame. 

It seems obvious that, in the mass of letters that 
afflict your postman, there have been plenty of com- 



LETTERS OF LORD ACTON 335 

munications from good men of all sorts in Ireland. 1886 
I speak of that from a slight, a remote, fear that the 
study of details, of conflicting and undigested sug- 
gestions, may have become distasteful to him. 
Writing to Lord Granville the other day in answer 
to a question, I proposed that his former private 
secretary Wetherell should make a tour in Ireland, 
as he has a very large acquaintance among people 
who do not clamour in the street. He would bring 
valuable information to bear. But I hope that 
there is no lack of information or of advisers. 

One has to think of people in the background 
just because they are the minority. That may 
justify me in sending you the enclosed letter from 
a man who had, I think, a good deal of Spencer's 
confidence and good-will. I would not send it if 
I thought it could discourage, but Mr. Gladstone 
has faced heavier artillery every day since Christ- 
mas. Happy New Year never meant so much as 
to-day! . . . 

P.S. — A frightened and discontented voice says, 
by this day's post, " If there is a vote of censure 
we must join in it and take the consequences of a 
majority, for we have no other mandate from our 
constituents but to bring back Gladstone, and if we 
abstained from voting we should lose our seats." 



INDEX 



Aberdeen, Earl of, 119 note, 120 

Acton, Lord — 
Career — 
Birth, 14 ; Oscott, 1 5 ; Munich, 
17; visit to France, 19; to 
United States, 20 ; Moscow, 21, 
22 ; Aldenham, 22 ; member for 
Carlow, 23 ; in Parliament, 26 ; 
stands for Bridgnorth, 28 ; edi- 
torship of the Rambler (Nome 
and Foreign Review), 29, 31-37, 
39 ; at Congress of Munich, 36 ; 
marriage, 39 ; lectures at Bridg- 
north, 39-44, 64 ; again stands 
for Bridgnorth, 44 ; at the CEcu- 
menical Council, 48-53 ; peer- 
age, 56 ; honorary Doctorate of 
Philosophy at Munich, 57 ; reply 
to Gladstone's "Vatican De- 
crees" pamphlet, 60; death of 
his daughter, 87, 209 and note; 
residence in Germany and the 
Riviera, 69 ; founds English 
Historical Review, 75 ; D.LL., 
D.C.L., and All Souls Fellow- 
ship, 75 ; made lord in waiting, 
75-76 ; appointed Professor of 
Modern History at Cambridge, 
77, 81 ; death, 87 
Characteristics — 

Caution in expressing opinions, 

10, 69, 87 
Conversational ability, 10-13, 81 
Cosmopolitanism, 13, 14, 20, 69 
Critical temperament, n, 73 
Foreign languages, facility in, 14, 

17,76 
Integrity of mind, 60 
Irony of manner, 1 1 
Learning, 9, 91 ; range of sub- 
jects, 14 
Liberalism, 38 



Acton, Lord — (contd.') — 
Characteristics — 
Morality, high estimate of, 10 
Personal appearance, 12 
Prudence, 37 
Reading, fondness for, 9, 13, 39, 

87 
Religious views, 14 
Sociability, II, 69 
Estimates of, 9, 83, 88 

Affirmation as substitute for oath, 1 18 
and note 

Afghanistan, 114 note, 179, 182, 323 
and note 

Afrikanders, see Boers 

Airlie, Earl of, ill 

Aldenham library, 17, 64, 86 

Alexander, 145, 216 

Alexandria, 266 

Alison cited, 100 

America, see United States 

Amiel, 323 

Ammergau, 128, 130 

Ampthill, Lord (Odo Russell), 54, 
309 and note 

Anglo-Indians, ill 

Antonelli, Cardinal, 5 1, 52 

Appearances v. realities, 108 

Arco, Louis, Count, 284 

Argyll, Duke of, incompatibility of, 
with Chamberlain, 106 ; resigna- 
tion of, 189 and note 3 / misun- 
derstandings of Gladstone by, 
210 ; otherwise mentioned, 70, 
104, 120, 124, 125, 170, 191, 199, 
212 

Arnim, Count, 152, 242 

Arnold, Matthew, 158, 170, 209 

Dr., 255 

Ashburnham MSS., 273-274 

Atterbury, 150 

Aumale, Due d', 190 



337 



338 



INDEX 



Austen, Jane, 185 
Authorities, list of, 169 

Bacon, 195 

Banneville, Marquis de, 51 

Barere, 244 

Barnes, 248 

Battersea, Lady (Mrs. Flower), 138 

and note, 140 
Baxter, 255 
Beaconsfield, Earl of (B. Disraeli) — 

Bryce on, 237 

Croker, views on, 316 and note 1 

"Endymion" criticised, 150 

First speech of, 214 

Gladstone's eulogy on, 70, 202- 
204 

Granville, Earl, dinner with, 165 

Illness of, 187 

Memorial to, 201 and note, 212 and 
note 

Peel attacked by, 219 note 

Press opinions on, 199 

Supporters of, 193 

Otherwise mentioned, 23, 89, 104, 
136 
Beard's Hibbert Lectures, 285 
Bedford, Duke of, 309 
" Belgique et le Vatican, La," 152- 

153 
Benedictines, 245 
Benjamin, J. P., 200 and note 
Berlin, treaty of, 292 and note 
Berryer, 25, 145, 147 
Bessborough Report, 190 
Bible, Revised Version of, 227 
Bisaccia, 160 
Bismarck, Prince Minghetti on, 73 ; 

Gladstone contrasted with, 131 ; 

mentioned, 106 
Blachford, Lord, 96 
Blennerhassett, Lady, estimate of, 

141 ; otherwise mentioned, no, 

117, 272, 286 
Sir Rowland, estimate of, 141 ; 

on Forster, 173 ; mentioned, 117 
Blignieres, 305 
Blondel, 255 
Bluntschli, 19 



Boers — 

Characteristics of, 178 
Peace made by Gladstone with, 
182, 196 

Bohme, 247 

Bond, 259 

Bonghi, essays of, on Gladstone, 96 
and notes 2 > 3 ; Roman History by, 
229, 287 ; mentioned, 181 and 
note 3 

Books, list of hundred best, 169 ; 
Acton's list of, 278-280, 289 

Borromeo, St. Charles, 83, 242, 300 

Bossuet, 195, 241, 260 

Boutney, 95 

Bradlaugh, Charles, re-election of, for 
Northampton, 233 and note 3 ; 
Manning's protest against admis- 
sion of, 237 note 2 ; otherwise 
mentioned, 118 note, 198, 227, 
261, 330 

Bradley's Recollections, 277 

Bramhall, 234, 240, 241 

Brand, Speaker (Viscount Hampden), 
1 74 and note 

Brewer, 234-236, 259, 310 

Bright, Rev. J. F., Master of Univer- 
sity, 75, 270, 285 and note, 
290 

Rt. Hon. John, 70, 120, 125, 197, 

266, 329 

Brodrick, Hon. George, 152 and note 3 , 
290 

Broglie, Due de, 94 and note 1 , 104, 
272 

Bronte, Charlotte, 185 

Brougham, Lord, 144, 155 

Browne, Bp., of Shrewsbury, 62 

Bp. Harold, 169 and note 1 

Browning, Oscar, 277 

Bryce, Rt. Hon. James, paper of, on 
Disraeli, 237 ; cited, 13, 69 ; 
quoted, 18-19, 69, 80 ; otherwise 
mentioned, 185, 312 

Burke, Edmund — 

Electioneering speeches of, 97 
Estimate of, 146, 155 
Gladstone compared with, 97, 146, 
156, 182 



INDEX 



339 



Burke, Edmund — (contd.~) 
Lecky on, 262 

Party policy of, 108, 146 and note 2. 
Otherwise mentioned, 31, 142 

Burials Bill, 128 and note 1 

Burnett, 144 

Busier, Bp., 38, 319 

Byron, 162 

Oesa.r Borgia, 252 

Cairns, first Earl, 192 and note, 212 

Cambridge, Acton's visit to (1884), 

290 note, 294, 305 
"Cambridge History," 81, 85, 86 
Cambridge University — 

Acton refused admission to, as a 

student, 16, 77, 208; made D.LL. 

at, 75 ; appointed Professor of 

Modern History at, 77 

Aldenham library presented to, 86 

Scholarship at, for Northumberland 

miners, scheme of, 306 and note 2 

Cannes, 69, 128, 154, 181, 184, 271, 

2 73> 3 I2 > 3 2 ° 
Canning, estimates of, 142, 143 ; other- 
wise mentioned, 155, 203, 315 
Capua, Archbishop of, 189 
Cardwell, Lord, 23, 104, 152, 166, 177 
Carlingford, Lord, 189 note i , 212, 309 
Carlyle, Thomas — 

Estimate of, 170-171, 183, 186 note, 
208, 252-253 

Froude's Life of, 261 

Palgrave on, 186 

Scherer on, 174 
Carnarvon, Earl of, 109, 119 
Carnegie, Andrew, 86 
Carnot, President, 244 
Caron, Father, 240, 248 
Casaubon, 322 
Cassander, 242 

Castlereagh, Viscount, 143, 202 
Cavendish, Lady F., 137 

Lord F., 165, 266 

Cavour, 26, 31, 147 
Cetewayo, 286 

Chamberlain, Rt. Hon. J., incompati- 
bility of, with Argyll, 106; indis- 
cretions of, 165; policy regarding 



House of Lords, 206; Dollinger's 
view of, 282; defection of, 330; 
on Gladstone's socialism, 328; 
otherwise mentioned, 119, 140, 
263, 276, 320, 327 
Chambord, Count of, 188, 272 
Channing, 255 
Charles I., 244 
Chateaubriand, 179 
Chatham, Lord, 142, 154, 182 
Chenery, 107, 118, 130 
Cheney, 137 

Childers, Rt. Hon. H. C. E., 219 note 
Chillingworth, 240, 242 
Chronicle (1868), 41 
Church, Dean, at Munich, 282 and 
note 8 ; on Liddon, 243, 306, 319; 
overestimation of, 318; other- 
wise mentioned, 1 70 
Churches — 
Anglican — 

Distinguished men in, overmuch 

made of, 318 
Establishment of, 296 
High Church party, attitude of, to- 
wards Gladstone's alliance with 
democratic nonconformity, no 
Ireland, in, 44 

Ritualism in, Gladstone's pam- 
phlet on, 58 
Thirty-Nine Articles, 233, 240 
Cavour's ideal, 31 

Establishments, 27, 44; Gladstone's 
progress of thought regarding, 
145 and note, 191 
Roman Catholic — 
Benedictines, 245 
Burnings of, 249, 255 
" Conflicts with Rome," 36 
Conversions to — 
Obstacles to, 298, 301 
Protestant sanction of, 242 
Identification of, with morality 

and religion, 35 
Infallibility dogma, 46, 48-55; 
civil allegiance in relation to, 

55. 58 
Inquisition, 249, 255, 298-299 
Jansenism, 239, 248 



340 



INDEX 



Churches — (contd.) — 
Roman Catholic — 
Jesuits (see that title) 
Legate and Nuncio, 244 
Legitimacy supported by, 188 
Marriage with Deceased Wife's 
Sister, attitude towards, 280 
and note 
Mass, the, 243 

Modern thought, Encyclical let- 
ter against, 38 
Molinism, 239 
(Ecumenical Council (1869), 46- 

56 

Papacy (see also below Ultramon- 
tanism) 
Creighton's work on, 75, 312, 

and note 2 
Ethics of, 234 

Inquisition the work of, 299 
Temporal power of, 49, 188- 
189 
Perilous opinions enforced by, 

234 
Persecution in, 257 
Quietists, 247 
Rosmini's attempted reform of, 

283, 288, 298 
Syllabus of Errors (1864), 38,47, 

242, 250 
Thirty-Nine Articles, views on, 

233-234 
Transubstantiation, 239-240 
Ultramontanism — 

Acton's attitude towards, 15 
Immorality of, 63-64, 238-239 
Irish clergy, of, 173, 276, 282 
Nature of, 298-300 
Policy of (1869), 50 
" Vatican Decrees " pamphlet, 58 

et seq. 
Vaticanism, Frere-Orban on, 153 
Cicero, 190 
Circourt, 136 
Clare, Lord, 316 
Clark, Dr. A., 124 
Clay, 147 

Clifford, Bishop, 62 
Club, The, 69, 148 



Cobden, Richard — 

Economy urged by, 25-26 
Life of, 215 and note, 218 
Otherwise mentioned, 113, 121 

Coercion, 30 (see also under Ireland) 

Colebrooke, Sir E., 232 

Coleridge, S. T., 1 71, 261 

Collard, Roger, cited, 186 

Colquhoun, Miss (Lady Limerick), 
164 

Commynes, cited, 131 

Conolly, 56 

Conscience — 

Development of, 280 
Independence of, 108 
Jesuit attitude towards, 135 
" John Inglesant," case of, 254 

Consent, government by, 168 

Conservatism, see Toryism 

" Consuelo," 185 

Contract, freedom of, 194 

Coombe Warren, 301 

Copenhagen, battle of, 84 

Copernicus, 78 

Coriolis, 272 

Corker, 242 

Coulanges, Fustel de, 19 

County Franchise Bill, 213 note 1 

Courtney, Rt. Hon. Leonard, 151, 312 

Cowper, Earl, no, 263 

, Henry, 93 

Craven, Mrs., 272, 283 

Creighton, Bishop, editor of English 
Historical Review, 75; estimate 
of, 312 

Cressy, 248 

Croker Papers, 314-316 

Cromwell, Oliver, 98, 171, 1 95 

Cross, Mr., 163 and note 1 , 223, 273, 
277, 286, 312, 321 

Dante, 137, 155; "Inferno," 141, 
252 and note; "Paradiso," 184, 
270 and note 5 

Darboy, Archbishop, 48-50, 56 

Davenport, 248 

" David Copperfield," 130 

Davitt, Michael, 168 

Decazes, 272 



INDEX 



341 



Deceased Wife's Sister Bill, 280 and 

note 
Delane, 107, 118 
Delisle, Leopold, 273-274 
Democracy — 
Danger of, 194 

Disraeli's transformation of Eng- 
land into a, 187 
Doctrines of, distinct from wishes 

of Democrats, 99 
Government by, success of, 195 
Inconstancy of, 102, 194, 205 
Principles of, 145 
Progress of, a certainty, 141 
Unity of power the tendency of, 
230 
"Democracy" (American novel), 156, 

270 
" Democracy in America," 19 
" Democracy in Europe," 68 
Democrats — 

Constructive power of, 222 
Murder identified with insurrection 

by, 207 
Whig dependence on, 213 
Demosthenes, 190 
Dempster, Miss, 178 note 2 
Derby, 14th Earl, 24, 164, 169 

, 15th Earl, estimate of, 213; 

otherwise mentioned, 172, 189, 
215, 222, 286 

, Lady, 213 

Descartes, 237, 255 

De Serre, 168 and note 1 , 1 76 

Detachment, 171, 209 

Devonshire, Duke of (d. 1891), 103 

and note 1 
D'Harcourt, Marquis, 272 
Diary of Miss M. Gladstone, extract 

from, 219 and note 
Diary-keeping, 107, 125 
Diaz, Porfirio, 43 
Dickens, Charles, 130, 138, 274 
Dilke, Sir Charles, Gladstone's esti- 
mate of, 219 note; at Cannes, 321 ; 
otherwise mentioned, 119, 140, 

330 

Dillon, John, 207 
Disraeli, see Beaconsfield 



Dollinger, Dr. — 

Acton's studies under, 17, 19; arti- 
cle on, 88 ; estimate of, 94 
Bryce's estimate of, 69 
Chamberlain, views on, 282 
Congress of Munich, plea at, 36 
Excommunication of, 56 
Gladstone's visit to, 58 
Liddon, views on, 295, 305 
Otherwise mentioned, 48, 155, 182, 
306 

Donne, 239 

Drew, Mrs., 6, 73 

Dufaure, 94 

Duff, Sir M. Grant, 37, 41 note; Spec- 
tator article by, 83 

Dufferin, Marquis of, 263 and note, 
309 

Duffy, Sir C. G., 217 and note 1 

Dupanloup, 50, 56 

Durham, Bishop of (Westcott), 318 

Ecclesiastical Titles Act, 59 

Economist, 118, 124 

Ecuador, 175 

Edinburgh Review, 18, 148, 1 64 note x 

Egypt — 

Alexandria, bombardment of, and 
complications, 266-270 

Evacuation of, views on, 280-281, 
292, 302-303 

Northbrook's mission to, 304 and 
note 
Eliot, George — 

Death of, 155 and note 

Dickens on " Scenes from Clerical 
Life," 274 

Estimate of, 155, 159, 161 

Gladstone's attitude towards, 71, 214 

Letters of, 227, 278 

Life of, 163, 185, 273, 313 

Lyttelton's review of, 158 

Montegut on, 277 

Philosophy of, 227 

Political divergence from, 326 

Scherer on, 323 

Otherwise mentioned, 97, 130, 214 
Ellenborough, Lord, 23, 196 
Eloquence, French, 179 



342 



INDEX 



" Endymion," 150 and note 1 
Enfield, 312 

Equality, doctrine of, 68, 100, 146 
Erasmus, 78 

Errington, Sir George, 229 and note 
" Expansion of England, The," 99 and 
note 2 -ioo 

Faber, 322 

Fabricius, 241 

Fagan, 151 

Faith — 

Patriotism analogous to, 32 

Political, 314 

Sincerity implied in, 279 

Falloux, quoted, 190 

Fanaticism, 253 

Fawcett, Rt. Hon. Henry, 119 

Female suffrage, 293-294 

Ferry, Jules, bill of, on unauthorised 
congregations, 93, 99 and note 

Flower, Mrs. (Lady Battersea), 138 
and note, 140 

Forbes, Bishop of Brechin, 259, 
296 

Forster, Rt. Hon. W. E., speeches of, 
132, 161; Blennerhassett on, 
173 ; Gladstone's estimate of, 219 
note; resignation of, 263-264 ; on 
" Democracy," 270 ; mentioned, 

174-175 
Forwood, 306 

Fox, C. J., estimate of, 142; Trevel- 
yan's Life of, 150 ; Chatham 
compared with, 182 ; otherwise 
mentioned, 203, 315 
France — 

Best living writers of, 98 
Commercial treaty with, 24, 218 
Debates, famous, in, 175 
Democracy in, 195 
Eloquence of, 179 
Gladstone's attitude towards litera- 
ture of, 144, 184 
Peasants in, condition of, 217 
Fraser, Bishop, 319 
Free government, 168 
Freedom, see Liberty 
Freeman, 89, 170, 259, 289 



Frere, Sir Bartle, estimate of, in, 
166 ; Toryism and jingoism of, 
1 78 and note 2 ; mentioned, 1 24 

Frere-Orban, 153, 177 

Freycinet, 136 

Froude, J. A., " Life of Carlyle " by, 
261 ; otherwise mentioned, 10, 
170, 174, 253, 289 

Gambetta, 116, 208 
Gardiner, S. R., correspondence with, 
on "John Inglesant," 232, 235 ; 
poverty of, 236 ; recommended 
for the Record Office, 259 ; at 
King's College, 259 ; contem- 
plated paper on "John Ingle- 
sant," 260 ; otherwise mentioned, 
289, 310, 313 
Gaskell, Milnes, 144 
Gavard, 104 

" Gendre de M. Poirier, Le," 95 
George, Henry, 282 and note \ 288 
Germany — 

Carlyle' s view of, 170, 183, 208 
Gladstone's attitude towards litera- 
ture of, 23, 144, 184 
Socialism in, 282, 287 
Gibbon, 157 

Gibson, Rt. Hon. J. G. (Lord Ash- 
bourne), 237 
Gladstone, Helen, 128, 286 

, Herbert, Middlesex candidature 

of, 101, 102 and notes, 104 and 
note; eloquence of, 186; eulogy 
of Hartington and Grenville by, 
211 ; lecture of, on Ireland, 275 
and note ; mentioned, 224 

, W. E. — 

Accident to ( 1 881), 177-8 
Acton, estimate of, 57 
Beaconsfield, eulogy on, 70, 202-204 
Bismarck contrasted with, 131 
Bonghi's essays on, 96 and note 3 
Burke compared with, 97, 146, 156, 

182 
Characteristics of — 
Eloquence, 24-25, 144 
Financial ability, 24-25 
Idealism, 214 



INDEX 



343 



Gladstone, W. E. — contd. 
Progress of mind, 145 
Self- depreciation, 165, 217 

Charities, speech on, 25, 145 

Church establishments, progress of 
thought regarding, 145 and note, 
191 

Contact with, desirable for members 
of the party, 120, 160-161 

Control of certain men not possible 
to, 143. 33° 

Criticism, attitude towards, 1 1 

De Serre, compared with, 168 

Dollinger, visit to, 58 

Estimate of characters by, defects 
in, 143, 156, 214 

Estimate of, by posterity fore- 
shadowed, 141-147 

Grantully Castle, voyage in, 129 
note 

Illness of (1880), 122 and note* 

Inequalitarianism of, 197 

Influence of, on the nation, 210 

Italian independence, attitude to- 
wards, 26, 70 

Lancashire speeches of (1868), 97 
and note 1 

Land tenure, progress of thought 
regarding, 145 and note, 191 

Letter of, on choice of a profession, 
140 

Liberal party — 

Cohesion of, dependent on his 

ascendency, 120, 215, 307 
Divergence from, 107, 109, 143, 

268 
Future of, 211-212, 214, 219 note 

Midlothian campaign (1880), per- 
sonal victory in, 101-103 ; cam- 
paign of 1884, 307 and note 1 

Nonconformist alliance of, 109 

O'Donnell affair, the, 115 and 
note 

Personal ascendency of, 101, 102- 
103,310 

Police protection for, 169 and note 1 

Position of (1859), 23-24 

Principle and policy, grasp of, 112, 
146 



Gladstone, W. E. — contd. 

Retirement of, objections to, 103, 
211, 212, 270, 281, 291, 308, 330 ; 
diary extract on, 219 note 
Socialism, attitude towards, 70, 287- 

288, 328 
Strachey's observation on, 154 
Tennyson's attitude towards, 324 

and note 
Vatican decrees, pamphlet on, 58 

Mrs., 104, 122, 220, 225, 270 

W. H., 210 and note 1 

Godley, Sir Arthur, 166 and note 2 

Goethe, 180, 183 

Goldsmid, 104, 160 

Goodman, Memoirs of, 236 

Goschen, Rt. Hon. J. G., estimate of, 
165; financial ability of, 213 ; other- 
wise mentioned, 96, 172, 190, 220 
and note, 222, 225, 231, 321, 327, 330 

Government — 

Consent, by, necessity of, 275 
Constitutional, maxim of, concern- 
ing subordinates, 232 
Party, by, law of, 198 
Unfitness for, in every class, 195 

Grace, three channels of, 253 

Granville, Earl, estimate of, 22 ; re- 
ception of, in Moscow, 21 ; Disraeli 
dines with, 165 ; motion of, on Bea- 
consfield, 204 ; suggested retirement 
of, 212 ; Gladstone discusses retire- 
ment with, 219 note; views on 
Morier, 309 ; on Gladstone's elec- 
tion address (1885), 327 and note; 
otherwise mentioned, 105, 112, 121, 
124, 132, 136, 207, 208, 210, 311 

Lady, 160 

Green, J. R., 235-236, 274 

Mrs. J. R., 272, 313 

T. H., 47 

Greenwood, Frederick, 106 

Grenville, George, 143, 169, 315 

Greville, 331 

Grevy, 271 

Grey, Earl, 321 and note z 

Grillion's, 69, 187 

Grosvenor, Lord R. (Lord Stalbridge), 
201 note 



344 



INDEX 



Grotius, 195, 241, 255, 322 
Ground Game Bill, 128 and note 
Grundtvig, 255 
Guizot, 186 

Hall, 240 

Hallam, 143 

Hamilton, 147 

Hammond, 255 

Hampden, Viscount (Speaker Brand), 
1 74 and note 

Harcourt, Sir William, 120, 169, 207, 
217, 219 note 

Marquis de, 272 

Hardy, 259 

Harley, Speaker, 167 

Harrington, James, 247 and note 2 

Harrowby, Lord, 144 

Hartington, Lord, attitude of, in elec- 
tions of 1880, 107, 221-222; Glad- 
stone's estimate of, 219 note; on 
compensation in Ireland, 221-222 ; 
otherwise mentioned, 24, 109, 212, 
321 

Hatch, Dr., 221 note 

Hatzfeldt, 329 

Hawarden, Acton's visit to, 223-224 

Hay, Colonel, 271, 273 and note 1 

Hayward, Lecky reviewed by, 148 ; on 
Carlyle, 82 ; otherwise mentioned, 
105, 107, 118, 224 

Hefele, Bishop, 50, 56 

Heine, 180, 200 

Henriquez, 186 

Herbert, Lord, 255 

Sidney, 23 

Heroes, doctrine of, 170 

History — 

Conscience, development of, the 

aim of, 280 
Ideas the essence of, 49-IOI 
Inner reality of, 131 
Letters as sources of, 127 
Moral estimates based on, 228 
Printed books as sources of, 89, 261 
Religion demonstrated by, 78 
Religious forces in the making of, 

279 
Scope of, 84 



"History of Liberty, A," 18, 64, 99 
and note \ 1 01, 287 ; called " The 
Madonna of the Future," 233 
note 1 , 260 

" History of Our Own Times," 132 

Hoadley, 150 

Hohenlohe, 284 

Holden, 248 

Hollond, Rev. H. S., 282 

Mrs., 273 

Holmbury, 129, 132, 137 

Home and Foreign Review, 29, 33-36,39 

Home Rule, see under Ireland 

Hooker, 278 

Hope-Scott, 143, 296 

Houghton, Lord, 151, 271 

How, Bishop Walsham, 320 

Howson, Dean, 307 

Hugo, Victor, 95, 159, 179 

Hundred books, Lubbock's scheme re- 
garding, 169; Acton's list of, 278- 
280, 289 

Huskisson, 315 

Hutton, R. H., 170 

Ideas — 

Carlyle's notion of, 171 
Expedients as opposed to, 154 
Exponents as distinct from, 322 
History in, 99-101 
Party an embodiment of, 315 

Illingworth, Rev. J. R., Sermons by, 
179 and note 1 , 180, 184 

" Imitation of Christ, The," 97 

Imperialism, 66 

Ingram, J. K., 176, 192 

Intolerance, 257 

Ireland — 
Acton's representation of, in House 

of Lords, 76 
Arms Bill, 179 

Arrears Bill (1882), 269 note 1 
Burke's policy regarding, 146 and 

note 1 
Church disestablishment in, 44 
Clergy in, 173, 276, 282, 333 
Coercion for, 164, 168, 182, 264 
Compensation for Disturbance Bill, 
122-123 an< l notes, 125 



INDEX 



345 



Ireland — (contd.) — 
Emigration from, 190 
Gladstone, Herbert, lecture of, on, 

275 and note 
Heroic treatment for, 152 
Home Rule for — 

Advocates of, 132 

Failure regarding, probable, 72, 

74 
Federalism in, 230 
Gladstone's references to (Oct. 
1881), 71, 208; (Feb. 1882), 
230 
Historic case for, 332 
Liberal party in regard to, 309 
Necessity of, 71, 275, 276, 2>Z2> 
Land League in, 168, 210 
Land tenure in — 
Bill of 1 88 1, 173, 186 and note, 
189 and note % ; criticism of, 
192 seq. ; opinions of others on, 
199; parliamentary prospects 
of, 202 ; Gladstone's speech 
on second reading, 207 and 
notes 2 -* ; compensation ques- 
tion not urged in connection 
with, 221 ; Lords' Committee 
of Inquiry on the Act, 232 
note; Cairns's draft Report, 264 
Compensation, idea of, 221, 224 
Irish ownership, case for, 332 
Land Court (1881), 216-217 
Landlords, 189-190 
Peasant proprietorship, 176 
Rent, 190, 217 
Massacre in, 244, 257 
Papal authority in, undesirable, 281 
Peace Preservation Bill (1881), 160, 

161 note 1 , 166 note 1 , 172 
Phoenix Park murders, 265 and note 
Priests in, see above, Clergy 
Resignations of officials (1882), 263 
Suspicion of England natural in, 

275 

Wetherell's tour in, suggested, 335 

Wolverton's views on, 164 

Wrongs of, 162 
Irish Members, see under Parliament 
Italian independence, 26, 70 



Jackson, Bishop, 316 

Dr. Henry, letter from, 80-84 ; 

cited, 86 
James, Henry, 233 note 1 
Jansenism, 239, 248 
Jebb, Professor, 170 
Jefferson, 145, 196 
Jennings' " Life of Newman," 223 
Jessel, Sir George, 259 
Jesuits — 

Clement XIV.'s attitude towards, 59 

Divisions among, 234 

Encyclopaedia Britannica article 
on, 163 

Ferry's bill on expulsion of, 93, 99 
and note 

Learning among, golden age of, 245 

Luther approved by one of, 239 

Papacy supported by, 250-25 1 

Pattison on, 322 

Richelieu supported by, 251, 257 

St. Hilaire's argument regarding, 

135 
Spanish, 68 
Jingoism, 70, 219 note 
"John Inglesant," criticism of, 233- 

2 35> 2 37> 243-258, 260 
Journalism, power of, 108 
Jowett, Benjamin, 170, 290 
Juarez, Benito, 42 

"Julian the Apostate," 152 and note 1 
Junius, 150, 226, 261 

Kenealy, 198 

Kenrick, 56 

Kimberley, Earl of, 199, 212 

Knesebeck, 306 

Knowles, Sir James, 219 

Knowsley, 212 note 2 , 21 5 

La Bastide, 241 
Labouchere, H. L., 203 
Laboulaye, 94, 136 
Labour, Adam Smith on, 194 
Lacaita, Sir James, 93 

Charles, 304 

Lacordaire, 298 

Lacour, Challemel, O'Donnell's at- 
tempted attack on, 115 note; esti- 



346 



INDEX 



mate of, 1 16; otherwise mentioned, 
119, 271 

Lamartine, 179 

Lamennais, 179 

Land tenure — 
Anomalies of, 123 
Broderick on, 152 and note 8 
Gladstone's progress of thought re- 
garding, 145 and note, 191 
Importance of subject, 27, 45 
Ireland, in, see under Ireland 
Landed aristocracy, Gladstone's at- 
titude towards, 197 
Lords, House of, as representing, 

206 
Maine's knowledge of, 126-127 
Political economy in regard to, 192 

Lansdowne, Lord, 199 note 2 

Lasaulx, Amelie von, 173-174 

Ernest von, 173-174 

Lassalle, 200, 329 

Lathbury, D. C, 118, 121 

Laugel, 104 

Laurent, 177 

Laveleye, 171, 176, 192 

Layard, Sir H. A., 181 

Lea, Mr., M.P., 185 

Lecky, " Eighteenth Century " by, 
147-149, 221; estimate of, 261- 
262; otherwise mentioned, 170, 
182 

Lee, General, 183 and note 

Lefevre, Rt. Hon. J. G. Shaw, 263 

Legitimacy, 188, 225, 272 

Leibnitz, 241, 260 

Lenbach, 117, 207 

Leo XIII., Pope, 181 and note \ 188, 
216 

Leslie, Cliffe, 176, 192 

Lesseps, 281 

Letters — 

History dependent on, 128 
Privacy of, 138 

Leveson-Gower, F., 94, 96, 137, 224 

Lewes, G. H., 158 

Mrs. (George Eliot), 163 

Lewis, George, 283 

Liberal Party — 
Achievements of, 45 



Liberal Party — (contd.) 

Gladstone — 

Dependence on, for cohesion, 1 19, 

212, 215, 307 
Divergence from, 106, 1 10, 143, 
268 

Future without, 211, 215, 219 note 1 

Home Rule in relation to, 309 
Liberalism — 

Aims of, 197 

Definition of, 171 and note 

Gladstone in relation to, 216 

Nature of, 64, 314 

Toryism permeated by, 315 
Liberty — 

American realisation of, 66 

Ancient, three things lacking in, 66 

Contract, of, 194 

Definitions of, 30, 172 and note l 

Division of power essential to, 230 

End in itself, 65 

Ends of, 332 

Equality at expense of, 68 

" History of," 1 8, 64, 99 and note \ 
101; called "The Madonna of 
the Future," 233 and note \ 260 

Law of, aims of, 196 

Mill on, reviewed by Acton, 29-30 

Minorities, security for, the test of, 
169, 177 

Savonarola's martyrdom for, 229 

Two worst enemies of, 33 
Liddon, Canon, first meeting with, 115; 
on Lord Carnarvon, 119; verbal 
subtlety of, 143; on Rosmini, 282- 
283 and note, 288, 293, 298, 300- 
301; Gladstone's attitude towards, 
295; suggestion of, for see of 
London, 316-319; anecdote of, 
319-320; at Tegernsee, 329; es- 
timate of, 292-293, 295-296, 301, 
317-319; Dollinger's estimate of, 
295, 305-306; otherwise men- 
tioned, 110, 170 
Lightfoot, Bp., 170 and note 1 , 21 7, 

319 

Limerick, Lord, 164, 172 
Listowel, Lord, 199 note 2 
Littleberries, 119 note 



INDEX 



347 



Littre, 134 

London, conservatism of, 224 

Londonderry, Lady, 294 

Longfellow, 98 

Lords, House of, see under Parlia- 
ment 

Lowder, Rev. Charles, Life of, 260 

Lowe, Robert, see Sherbrooke 

Lowell, J. R., reminiscences of, 98; 
otherwise mentioned, 125-128, 
170, 184 

Lubbock, Sir John, estimate of, 169; 
otherwise mentioned, 166, 168 
and note 1 , 289 

Luther, 78, 239 

Lyons, Lord, 133, 271 

Lyttelton, Alfred, 217, 268 and note, 

305 
Rev. the Hon. Arthur, 152 and 

note \ 158 and note, 255, 262 
Lytton, 114 

Macaulay — 

Brougham on, 144 
Cited, 16; quoted, 79 
Conversational power of, 136 
Estimate of, 155, 326; estimate of 

Essays and History, 285 
Letter of, on Windsor Castle paper, 

222 
Taine on, 150-151 
Writing of, 142, 156 
Otherwise mentioned, 155, 198, 252, 
310 
MacCarthy, J. H„ 168; " History" by, 

132 
MacColl, Canon, 107, 208 and note 2 
Machiavelli, 78, 252 
Mackintosh, 155 

Maine, Sir Henry, disagreements with, 
124; on land tenure, 126; on 
primogeniture, 225; on the gov- 
ernment, 325, 328-329; estimate 
of, 121, 126; otherwise men- 
tioned, 170, 224, 294 
Maitland, Prof. F. W., cited, 7, 85-86 
Malebolge, 251 
Malebranche, 248 
Mallet, Sir Louis, on Afghanistan, 



179; illness of, 231-232; moves 
to Mentone, 273; estimate of, 96, 
121; otherwise mentioned, 176, 
271 

Manning, Cardinal, ultramontanism 
of, 46, 300; on Vatican decrees, 
60; correspondence of, with 
Acton, 62; influence lost by, 89; 
protests against admission of 
Bradlaugh to Parliament, 237 
note 2 / views of, on Borromeo, 
300; Wiseman succeeded by, 46 

Marat, 100 

Marriage — 

Deceased Wife's Sister Bill, 280 and 

note 
Female Suffrage in regard to, 294 

Maximilian, Archduke, 43 and note 

May, Sir T. Erskine, "Democracy in 
Europe " by, reviewed by Acton, 
67; otherwise mentioned, 166, 
225, 226 

Mazzini, 32, 326 

Men of the time, estimate of, 228 

Mentone, 260; Queen's villa at, 233, 

235 

M£rimee, Prosper, 151 

Mexico, 32, 41-44 

" Middlemarch," 158, 243 

Midhat Pacha, 141, 188 and note 

Midlothian campaign (1880), personal 
victory in, 101, 102-103 '■> can> 
paign of 1884, 306 and note l 

Mignet, 94 

Mill, J. S., on liberty, reviewed by 
Acton, 29-30; otherwise men- 
tioned, 145, 171, 197, 214 

Milman, 98 

Milner, Viscount, 321 and note 2 

Milnes, Monckton, 137 

Milton, 162 

Minghetti on Gladstone and Bis- 
marck, 73 ; otherwise mentioned, 
96 and note 2 , 181 and note 8 , 
229, 286 

Minorities, protection of, a condition 
of liberty, 65, 169, 176 

Mirabeau, 100, 144 

Mivart, 236 



348 



INDEX 



Molinism, 239 

Molinos, 245-246 

Mominsen, 283 

Monck, Lord, 224, 226 and note 8 

Monroe, President, 313 and note 2 

Montagu, 234, 240 

Montalembert, 19, 155 

Montegut, 277 

Montesquieu, 99, 1 96 

Montlosier, Comte de, 226 and note 2 

More, 195 

Morier, at Seacot, 304 ; criticisms by, 
on British foreign policy, 306; 
estimate of, 1 1 7, 119, 309, 316, 
321, 328 

Morley, Lord, 202 

Arnold, 328 

■ Rt. Hon. John, represented by 

Acton in House of Lords, 76 ; 
Aldenham library presented to 
Cambridge University by, 86; 
" Life of Burke " by, 97 ; estimate 
of, 113; Pall Mall under, 113, 
218; "Life of Cobden"by, 215 
and note, 218 ; Jacobinism of, 
232 ; in Parliament, 274 ; quoted, 
57 ; cited, 72, 323 note ; other- 
wise mentioned, 101, 118, 138, 
140, 164, 170, 173,225, 276 

Morris, 322 

Mortola (the poet), anecdote of, 193 

Most, 207 and note 

Mozley, James, 282 

John, 268 and note, 318 

M tiller, Max, 170, 290 

Minister, 106-107 

Myers, Ernest, 273 

Napoleon I., Mme. de Remusat on, 
127, 132; Lee compared with, 
183 note; otherwise mentioned, 
81, 145, 165, 196, 216 

Napoleon III., 41-43, 52 

National pride, 284 

Nationality, Home and Foreign Re- 
view article on, 31-33 

Neander, 255 

Nelson, 84 

Newman, Cardinal, retires from editor- 



ship of Rambler, 29 ; on Vatican 
Decrees, 60, 242; made a car- 
dinal, 90 ; verbal subtlety of, 143 ; 
Life of, by Jennings, 223 ; influ- 
ence of, 296 ; narrowness of set 
of, 321-322 ; estimate of, 70, 121, 
293 ; otherwise mentioned, 141, 
170, 189, 255,282 

Newmarch, 176 

Newton, 99 

Nonconformists, Gladstone's alliance 
with, 109 

North British Review, 45 

Northbrook, Lord, 212, 304 and note 

Northcote, Sir S., 109, 202 

O'Connell, 144 

O'Donnell, 115 and note 

O'Hagan, John, 216 

Opponents' case, statement of, 308 

Ottley, Rev. E. B., cited, 227 

Owen, Prof., 278, 318 

Oxford, Acton's visit to, 290 and note, 

292, 311 
Oxford University — 

Acton made D.C.L. at (1889), 
and Honorary Fellow of All 
Souls (1890), 75 
Verbal refinements a product of, 
143 

Paget, Sir Augustus, 181 

Dean, 329 and note 1 

Sir J., estimate of, 121, 1 78; 

otherwise mentioned, 170 and 
note 2 , 180 note, 278 
Palgrave, 158, 186 
Pall Mall Gazette — 

Estimate of, 113, 1 18, 191, 218 
Jacobinism of, 232 
Maine a contributor to, 121 
Morley's editorship of, 113, 118, 
218 
Palmer, William, 296 
Palmerston, Viscount, on Treaty of 
Paris, 21 ; Acton's disagreement 
with, 23 ; on French invasion, 25 ; 
party's relations with, 219 note; 
otherwise mentioned, 143, 144 



INDEX 



349 



Panizzi, life of, 151 and note 
Papacy, see under Churches — Roman 

Catholic 
Parker, C. S., 152 and note 1 * 
Parliament — 
Commons, House of — 

Consent of representatives in, a 
condition of free government, 
168 
Irish party in — 

Degrees among, 175 

Liberal party dependent on, 

330 
Obstruction by, 116, 166; two 

kinds of, 168 
Tory alliance with, 325 note l 
Obstruction in, 1 16; two kinds 

of, 168 
Outside influence on, 205 
Procedure Rules, Gladstone's 

speech on, 163 and note 2 , 232 
Weakness of, when near its end, 

"3 

Debates in, few famous, 1 75 
Lords, House of — 

Character of, as an institution, 

126, 206 
Compensation for Disturbance 
Bill thrown out by, 122 and 
notes, 126 
Home Rule Bill in, prospects for, 

334 
Injury done by, 206 
Interests of, 206 

Irish Land Act, Committee of 
inquiry on, appointed by, 232 
note 
Modification of, 206 
Popular view of, 198 
Radical attitude towards, 316 
Taxation not in jurisdiction of, 

24 
Use of, 205-206 
Parnell, C. S., 210, 266, 334 
Parties, evening, in Downing Street, 

113 and note 
Party — 

Burke's policy regarding, 108, 146 
and note 2 



Party — {contd. ) 
Government by, law of, 198 
Ideas the justifying cause of, 315 
Religious view of, 314 
Pascal, 99, 195, 255, 322 
Pasquier, 94 
Pasteur, 262 
Patriotism, 26 

Pattison, Rev. Mark, Life of Milton 
by, 97 and note; estimate of, 322- 
323; otherwise mentioned, 170, 
226 

Mrs. Mark, 140 

Paul V., Pope, 255 

Peel, Disraeli's attack on, 219 note; 
personal influence neglected by, 
120; justification of, 315-316; 
estimates of, 142, 144, 154 
Peelites in 1859, 23 
Penjdeh, 323 and note 
Persons versus things, 99, 108, 187, 

213, 315, 322, 326 
Petavius, 322 
Pitt, 142, 143, 154, 196 
Pius V., Pope, 61, 242 
Pius IX., Pope, Encyclical Letter 
against modern thought, 38 ; 
death of, 89 ; otherwise men- 
tioned, 36, 46 
Plunket, 144 

Political economy, changes in, 192 
Politics — 

Complexity of, 193 
Differences in, dependent on dis- 
agreement in moral principles, 
326 
Ecclesiastical principles in, 149- 

150 
Ends of, 332 

Moral basis of, 199, 212, 326 
Parentage of, 158 
Patriotism in, 32 
Religion and, borderland of, 208- 

209 
Religious view of, 314 
Potter, T. B., 152, 215, 218, 273 
Power, acquisition and maintenance 

of, 107-108 
Praetorius, 241 



350 



INDEX 



Price, Bonamy, 118, 192, 311 and 

note 3 

Primogeniture, 205, 225 

Principles, self-identification with, 187 

Probabilism, 251 

Progress, conditions of, 315 

" Progress and Poverty," 282 note \ 
287 

Property — 

Limitation to rights of, 196 
Representation based on, 293 

Puritans, 256 

Pusey, Dr., 282, 318 

Quakers, use of term, 244, 256 
Quarterly Review, 148 
Quietists, 247 

Radicalism, 197 

Radicals, attitude of, towards House 

of Lords, 316 
Radowitz, 147 
Rambler, 29-30 
Rammingen marriage, 1 16 
Ranke, 19 
Rauscher, 56 
Raynaud, 255 
Reay, Lady, 186 

Lord, 96, 116, 117, 122, 224, 

226, 273 
Reeve, Henry, 164 and note 1 
Reform, nature of, 195 

Bill (1884), 291, 294 

Religion — 

Antagonism founded in, an obstacle 
to sincerity, 280 

Church, identification of, with, 35 

Fanaticism in, 253 

History the true demonstration of, 
78, 279 

Key to actions provided by, 279; un- 
reliability of key, 61, 62 

Liberalism the beginning of real, 64 

Politics and, borderland of, 208 

Scientific discoveries, attitude to- 
wards, 35 

Substitutes for, 278, 280 
Remusat, Mme. de, 125, 127, 132 
Renan, Ernest, 98, 262 



Renouf, 296 

Renouf, Miss, 286 

Representation, property the basis of, 

293 

Representative systems, 205 

Retz, 249 

Reviews, value of, 184 

Richelieu, 241, 251, 257 

Richter, 170, 183 

Ridding, Dr., 296 

Ripon, Marquis of, 321 

Robespierre, 100, 116 

Rogers, Thorold, 101 and note 2 

Rome — 

" John Inglesant " in reference to, 

256 
Visit to (1881), 180-181; (1882), 
229 

Roon, 147 

Roscher, cited, 192 

Rosebery, Earl of, appoints Acton to 
Cambridge, 77; otherwise men- 
tioned, 119, 334 

Rosicrucians, 247 

Rosmini, 282, 283 and note, 288, 293, 
297-298, 300 

Rossi, Count, 189 and note 1 

Rothe, 19, 255, 322 

Rousse, 190 

Rousseau, 10, 155, 179 

Ruskin, John, writings of, on fly-leaves, 
157; at Hawarden, 285 ; on Bon- 
amy Price, 31 1 and note*; estimate 
of, 140, 161 ; otherwise mentioned, 
157, 186 

Russell, Lord Arthur, 126 and note, 
164, 172, 174, 273 

C. (Lord Russell of Killowen), 

263 

George, 328 and note x 

Lord John, 25, 144 

Lord Odo (Lord Ampthill), 54, 

309 and note 

Russia — 
Granville's reception in, 21-22 
Policy of, 292, 324 

St. Hilaire, B., estimate of, 94, 133- 
135; argument of, regarding 



INDEX 



351 



Jesuits, 135; Aristotelian work 
of, 135; view of, on Greeks, 174; 
otherwise mentioned, 138, 208 

St. Just, 177, 251 

St. Simon, memoirs of, 127 

Salisbury, Marquis of, Irish party com- 
pared with, 175 ; assurances re- 
quired by, from Gladstone, 325 
note; in Tunis affair, 192; on 
Irish Arrears Bill, 269 and note ; 
otherwise mentioned, 212, 304, 

321, 330» 334 

Salmeron, 245 

Sancta Clara, Father, 246, 256 

Sand, George, 179 and note 11 , 180, 185 

Sandford, Bp., 271 and note 2 

Savonarola, 229 

Scaliger, 322 

" Scenes from Clerical Life," 274 

Schelling, 255 

Scherer, estimate of, 93-94, 97; pa- 
triotism of, 130; on Carlyle, 174; 
on George Eliot, 323; otherwise 
mentioned, 104, 321 

Schiller, 180 

Schlegel, 183 

Schleiermacher, 183 

Schlozer, 229 

" School of Shakespeare," 139 

Schwartzenberg, 56 

Sclater, 236 

Scott, Sir Walter, 71, 196 

Scottish mental characteristic, 322 

Seeley, Sir John, death of, 77; Acton 
contrasted with, 78 ; " Expansion 
of England" by, 99 and note 2 - 
101; otherwise mentioned, 221, 
288 

Selborne, Lord, 212, 327 

Selden, 322 

Serjeant, 248 

"Sermons in a College Chapel," 179 
and note 1 , 180, 184 

Shakespeare — 

Defects of, 155, 159 
Montalembert on, 155 

Sonnets of, 138-139 

Shaw, 207, 263 

Dr., cited, 67 



Shelburne, Lord, 182 

Shelley, 180 

Sherbrooke, Viscount (Robert Lowe), 
attitude of, towards H. Gladstone, 
103-104 and note; hurt regard- 
ing offer of peerage, 106; Maine's 
views on, 121; indebtedness of, 
to Burke, 155; on political econ- 
omy, 192; otherwise mentioned, 
ior, in, 148, 170, 176 

Shorthouse, Mr., correspondence with, 
260 and note 1 , 270 and note 

Shrewsbury, Lord, 239 

Sidebotham, Rev. H., 319 

Sidgwick, Prof., 290 note, 305 

Sieyes, 145 

Simon, Jules, 94, 136, 272 

Richard, 241 

Sincerity, 279 

Skelton, Sir John, 208 note 1 

Slavery, 20, 40 

Smith, Adam, 99, 194 

Goldwin, 170, 217 

P. J., 204 

Robertson, 312 

Sir William, 67, 147-148 

Socialism, 70, 282, 287, 328 

Society, State as distinct from, 99-100, 
176, 197, 205 

Soudan, 289, 292, 331 

Southey, 183, 196 

Spain — 

Inquisition in, 255 

Jesuits in, 68 

Mexican expedition of, 41-42 

Spinola, 242, 259 

Spinoza, 56, 200 

Spencer, Earl, estimate of, 262; ru- 
moured resignation of, 265-266 
and note; otherwise mentioned, 
no, 321, 335 

Lady, 160 

Herbert, Laveleye on, 171 ; opin- 
ion of, on " Scenes from Clerical 
Life," 274; otherwise mentioned, 
122 and note 2 , 225 

Stael, Mme. de, 97 

Stahl, 89, 200 

Standard, 153, 164, 165 



352 



INDEX 



Stanley, Dean, 170, 186 

of Alderley, Lord, 164 and note 1 

State, society as distinct from, 100, 

176, 197, 205 
Stephen, Fitzjames, 120, 170; on 

Criminal Law, 277 
Stillingfieet, 240 
Strachey, Sir Edward, 154 

■ Sir John, 114 and note 

Strossmayer, Bishop, 50, 56 

Stuart, James, 306, 325 and note 2 , 328 

and note 2 
Stubbs, Bishop, estimate of, 259, 290, 

305, 307, 310; approached by 

Mrs. J. R. Green, 313; otherwise 

mentioned, 293, 296 
Sumner, Charles, 97 
Suspicion — 

Commynes on, 131 

Desirability of, 105-106, 109, 228 

Moderation to be observed in, 156, 

157 

Sutherland, Duchess of, 294 and note 
Swinburne, 115, 139, 180 
Swiss nationality, 32 
Sybel, von, 19 
Symonds, J. A., 170 

Tachard, M., 122 note* 

Taine, estimate of, 94; Scherer com- 
pared with, 98; Tennyson's atti- 
tude towards, 114; on Macaulay, 
150-151; on the Revolution, 323 

Tait, Bishop, 319 

Talbot, Dr., 290 note, 292 and note 2 

"Talleyrand's Memoirs," 132 

Tegernsee, 69, 129, 182, 186 

Temple, Bishop, 319-320 

Cowper (Lord Mount Temple), 

96 

Temporal power of Rome, see under 
Churches — Roman Catholic — 
Papacy 

Temps, 130, 183 

Tennyson, Alfred, estimate of, 114; 
attitude towards Gladstone, 324 
and note; otherwise mentioned, 
136, 153, 170, 180 note 

Hallam, 113, 115 



Thiers, 25, 136, 145, 147 

Things versus Persons, 99, 108, 187, 

21 3> 3 I 5> 3 22 » 326 
Thirlwall, Bishop, 223 
Thorndike, 239 
Thucydides, 127 
Times — 

Carlyle, views on, 171, 183 

Change in, 332 

Chenery's dealings with, 107, 120, 
130 
Tocqueville, Alexis de, 19, 284 
Toland, 150, 247 note 2 
Toryism — 

Attitude of, 314 

Female adherents of, 294 

Frere's exemplification of, 178 

Gout, compared with, 131 

Liberal ideas permeating, 315 

Maine on, 225 
Transvaal, 178 

Trench, Archbishop, 122 and note 1 
Trevelyan, G. O., " Life of Fox " by, 
150-15 1 ; estimate of, 157; 
otherwise mentioned, HI, 164 
Trollope, 164 
Turgot, 147 

Turkey, tyranny of, 193 and note 2 
Tyndall, Prof., 148, 278 
Tyranny — 

Success as essence of, 252 

Turkish, 193 and note 2 



Ultramontanism, see under Churches 

— Roman Catholic 
United States — 

Abolitionists in, 20 

Civil war in, Acton's lecture on, 

39-41 
Constitution of, French critic on, 

67 
Democracy in, 195; Tocqueville's 

book on, 19 
Dependencies in relation to, 44 
Liberty, doctrine of, realised by, 

65 
Monroe doctrine, 313 and note 2 
Ussher, 322 



INDEX 



353 



Valdes, Juan, 243, 256 

Van Helmont, 247 

Vaticanism, see under Churches — 

Roman Catholic 
Victoria, Queen, Acton agreeable to, 

76; shot at, by a lunatic, 233 

and note 2 ; Mentone residence 

of, 233, 235 
Vielcastel, 94 
Vinet, 255, 323 

Waddington, M., 283-284 

Wagner (pol. economist), cited, 192, 

200 
Waldegrave, Lady, 137 
Wales, Prince of, 213 
Wallace, Robert, 171 note 
Walshe, 248 
Warburton, 150 
Ward, Wilfred, Wiseman's "Life "by, 

1 6 ; otherwise mentioned, 296, 322 
Waterland, 293 

Wealth, labour the source of, 194 
Webster, 144, 147 
Wellington, Duke of, 143, 196, 315 
Westcott, Dr., Bishop of Durham, 319 
Wetherell, 335 



Wetherell (editor of Chronicle), 45 

Whigs — 
Acton's sympathy with, 154, 212 
Constructive power lacking in, 222 
Democrats, dependence on, 213 
Seeley on, 99 

White, 248 

Wickham, Dr., 236, 243, 277 

Wilberforce, R. J., 293, 296 

Bishop, 198, 210, 318 

Wilkinson, Bishop, 296, 319 

William III., 167 note 1 

Williams, Roger, 255 

Wilson, 150 

Wimpfen, 284 

Winchester, Bishop of (Winton), 169 

Windham, 143 

Wiseman, Dr., 15, 33-36 

Wolseley, Lord, 158, 178 

Wolverton, Lord, Irish views of, 164; 
estimate of, 166; otherwise men- 
tioned, 122, 191, 271, 301 

Women's Suffrage, 293-294 

World, 175 

ZulfikAR, 323 

Zulus, m; Cetewayo, 286 



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